Most of the HVAC blogs you might read will typically recommend that you schedule air conditioning maintenance in the spring, and heating maintenance in the fall—before you need either system the most. But here in St Augustine, we pretty much need our air conditioners year-round. So what does that mean for scheduling? Well, it’s never too early for an AC tune-up!
Is a tune-up necessary? Well, in short, yes. If you want your air conditioner to work as efficiently and effectively as possible for as long as possible, then you want to have maintenance done on the system at least once a year. If you’re utilizing a year-round heat pump system, then this should be upped to twice a year. Read on to learn more!
No matter who you are, there’s no doubt that COVID-19 is something that you’ve been very aware of in the past year. Many homeowners throughout the country are looking for ways to mitigate their risks of virus transmission and the like in their own homes, and St. Augustine residents are no exception.
Homeowners often don’t realize how much their ductwork plays a role in not only their comfort but also the cleanliness of their indoor air. So when that ductwork is dirty or damaged, it can impact your home in significant ways. Damaged ductwork allows air leaks into unoccupied spaces like your attic or crawlspace. Dirty ducts invite common allergens as well as mold spores and bacteria into your indoor air.
Look, we get it. You live in St Augustine, FL. You don’t need your heater much. Shoot, some years it seems like you maybe only turned in on for one cool week during the winter.
Winter is right around the corner! True, that doesn’t mean much for us here in the sunshine state. “Winter?” you may scoff, “that’s something other states get, not us!”
Are you using a gas-powered furnace to warm your home this winter? This is a great choice for homeowners in our area. Our winters may be brief, but we can certainly have some chilly days and nights. And you need a powerful and safe heater to get you through the cooler temperatures. That said, there is a potential threat when it comes to gas furnaces that is important for homeowners to be aware of. A cracked heat exchanger.
Dirty ducts are a conundrum. On one hand, some homeowners are convinced that their dirty ducts still work after decades of neglect. If they put a hand on their air vent, they’ll still feel the heated air coming from their furnace. While we won’t argue with that sentiment, since dirty ducts can technically still work, we want to approach this from a different angle.
“Wait,” you might be wondering, “furnace maintenance? In Florida?”
Central cooling is not just something that’s “nice to have” in our part of the country. It’s an absolute necessity, affecting not only your comfort but your quality of life. It’s also one of the most specialized features of a home. This means while the average homeowner can take on projects like tightening a bolt to fix a plumbing leak, or replacing an outlet cover in the home, they should take on projects that involve fixing their air conditioner. But that’s what we are here for!
If you ask an HVAC contractor in almost any other part of the country, they’ll tell you the best time for air conditioner maintenance is in the spring, before you need your system the most. It’s not that this is untrue for folks in our area, but what matters the most wherever you are is that maintenance is done consistently, no matter the time of year.
