Ask the expert

So it’s finally really hot. What should I do to make sure my air-conditioning unit is running properly?

To help better understand whether the system is running properly, it helps to know, in the most general sense, what it is and how it works.

“Very basically, the most common AC system has two parts,” explains Tim Hennelly, owner of Casa Buena Home Inspections of Little Rock. “The exterior half of the system is that big metal cabinet sitting outside of the house.

Inside of it are two components, a compressor and the condenser coil,” he begins.

The interior half of the air-conditioning system is the evaporator coil, usually installed with your furnace or air handler, Hennelly explains.

If you haven’t already had a heat and air professional service the system, it’s better to do this before the arrival of warmer weather, but even now it will help ensure that the system will operate properly during the hottest days. Twice-a-year servicing of the system also extends the life of the system, Hennelly advises.

He offers the following tips to make sure it is running as efficiently as possible:

Begin by checking outside the home, making sure no vegetation is growing next to or directly above the compressor, which requires airflow to operate efficiently. Also, make sure yard debris, such as leaf buildup and soil, isn’t contacting the cabinet, and the unit’s thin metal vents are free of dirt and lint.

Inside the home, make sure the system’s filter is changed regularly; a dirty one will impede airflow and the unit’s ability to cool the home.

Check the area behind the filter, which is known as the return (where the air inside the home passes through the filter and returns to the system to be cooled again). Make sure to seal any openings in the return area that allow air from the crawl space or attic to be pulled into the system. Otherwise, foul air is bypassing the filter and the system’s efficiency is reduced.

Periodically examine the insulation on the ducts that sendcooled air into the home, Hennelly suggests, adding that any damaged or loose insulation should be repaired.

Find out where the condensation drainpipe empties outside the home. It is usually a white PVC pipe about an inch in diameter located near the base of an exterior wall. This pipe carries away the water (condensation) from the evaporator coil, Hennelly says. “When the AC system operates, water should be draining from the pipe,” he advises.

“Usually the evaporator coil will have a drip pan located underneath it just in case a leak occurs,” Hennelly says. He said the pans have a drainpipe to keep them from overflowing, and some also have a float switch that shuts off thesystem if the water begins to fill up the pan.

The drip pan drainpipe is usually a white PVC pipe that usually ends underneath the edge of a roof overhang and above a window or in another visible location where it will be easily noticed when it begins to drip.

“If you ever see water draining from this pipe it means that water is in your drip pan,” Hennelly explains, “And that is not a good thing. At that point, the AC system should be shut off and a heat and air contractor called.” - Linda S. Haymes Do you have a decorating or remodeling question? We’ll get you an answer from an authority. Send your question to Linda S. Haymes, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, P.O. Box 2221, Little Rock, Ark. 72203 or e-mail: [email protected]

HomeStyle, Pages 33 on 06/22/2013

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