What Can Go Wrong with My Central Air Conditioner This Summer

The High Cost of Neglecting Your Central Air Conditioner

Try this simple homeowner test:

1. When was the last time you had you car tuned-up?
2. When was the last time you had your heating and cooling system tested and tuned-up?

Maybe regular auto service is perceived as more important because when your car breaks down, you are always away from home, while you will never be left stranded along the highway when your air conditioner breaks… but what if your central air conditioning system dies on the hottest day of the year?

Summer AC failure is considered an emergency by just about everyone with a pulse and can be life-threatening to elderly family members during a heat emergency. Getting a quick fix will leave you at the mercy of any random HVAC contractor you are lucky to find because all the good ones are too busy with everyone else’s emergencies.

Worse yet, the cost of neglecting routine maintenance on your mechanical systems is paid through higher utility bills, reduced indoor comfort and sometimes, unhealthy indoor air quality.

The cost of emergency replacement of home central air conditioning is a missed opportunity to optimize the replacement and will cost hundreds or thousands more to operate over the life of the equipment.

The National Renewable Energy Lab published this chart to illustrate the range of problems lurking in homes where regular preventive maintenance is neglected. These problems can be interrelated and difficult to correct without applying a systematic approach to diagnosis and maintenance.

NREL chart of HVAC trouble spots

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