Derek Cole explains why AC units fail when summer heat hits and how to prevent it. Change your air filter monthly, keep vents clear, and maintain two feet of clearance around the outdoor unit. Test your system before the first 90-degree day to catch problems early.
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Home and Life Comfort with Derek Cole. Hey, what's up? Derek Cole here, and let me tell you something I see every single year. The first hot week and suddenly everybody's AC is not working. But here's the truth, it didn't just stop working. It's been heading that direction for months. Spring is your opportunity. If you handle a few simple things now, you can avoid the stress, the money, the discomfort. You can avoid all that later. Let's walk through it. First, your air filter. If you do nothing else Please check and change your air filter. It is the most important thing you can do for your system that makes a difference. Actually, some reports say it can affect your energy costs 5 to 15% just by changing your filter. A dirty filter restricts airflow than it should. If your system is working harder, it is causing the energy to increase, not decrease. So change your filter. None of us like high power bills. It just causes wear and tear on your system and a greater chance of breakdown. So check it monthly, check it every 30 days, change it when it's needed, change it at least every 90 days. But Check it every single month. Next, airflow in the house. Now, when you walk through your home, are vents blocked? Is furniture blocking vents? Is our shoes blocking vents? What's blocking vents? Can the vents breathe? Can they get air out? Is your return free? You don't have it, you know, against the couch. Bring the couch back a little bit. Let the air flow. It is critical for your system to have the proper airflow. Dust builds up, problems start happening. Airflow is important. Open the vents, get the furniture out of the way, let the air circulate through the home because your AC system is going to get the air it needs. You want it to come through that filter we just talked about. You want it to come through that filter. You want it to be clean air. You want it to be clean of debris, clean of dust. You want it to be filtered. You want it to be the air in your home, not the air in your crawl space, in your attic, from outside. You want it to make it easy as possible to get the air back. To the unit. So clear the vents, make sure they're clear of any furniture, and make sure all vents are open. Next, let's go outside. Your outdoor unit needs space. Leaves, grass, bushes— it needs space to breathe. You should have at least 2 foot of clearance around the unit, around all 4 sides so it's clear of debris, of bushes, of plants, anything growing there. It needs to have air so the unit itself can breathe. If the unit is covered in leaves and grass clippings and bushes, it can't breathe, it can't move the heat. Heating and air is all about heat transfer. In the winter, we're coming just off of— in the winter, we're We're trying to bring heat into the house. In the summer, we're trying to get heat out of the house. You want to make it again as easy as possible. You want that filter changed. You want the vents clear. You want the outdoor unit being able to breathe. Now you check all that, test your system. The first 90-degree day is not when you want to test your system. You want to test it right now when it's in the 80s. In the 70s and demand is low, go ahead and test that AC to make sure it kicks on, it works. That way you're not stuck on that first 90-degree day in line with all the other folks that have an AC problem. Go ahead, put your mode from heat to AC, turn that thermostat down Make sure the AC comes on and then check it to make sure it's cooling. If it's not, get a maintenance, get it checked, get a professional to come look at it before you're in a bad, bad situation. That maintenance done— this is not a DIY. This stuff matters. This stuff, it is game time. Get it checked out. Tuned up by a professional, by a professional company, by a professional technician that knows what they're doing, that has a checklist of items we're going to check off to make sure we're good before the summer heat sets in. Here's the bottom line: you can either deal with it now on your terms or deal with it later when it's hot uncomfortable and more expensive, deal with it later. It's your call. Now, I'd rather play offense than defense. I'd rather deal with it now, not later. If you want to get ahead of it, go ahead and give us a call. Go online, Simmons1Hour.com. We have an $88 Super AC Tune-Up going on right now. Let's go ahead and Home and Life Comfort with Derek Cole.
