One of the biggest keys to ensuring your home remains comfortable throughout the year is regular maintenance. No matter what type of heating and cooling your home has, it’s essential that each part of your HVAC system is professionally maintained every year. Keeping your air conditioning properly maintained is especially important in Nevada due to the extreme heat we experience throughout most of the summer. In this article, we’ll provide an overview of what HVAC maintenance generally involves and delve into the various benefits it provides to show you why it’s so important.
1. Better Cooling and Heating Performance
The first thing you should know is that cooling and heating systems will not perform as well as they should if they’re not properly maintained by a certified HVAC technician. Your AC, heat pump or furnace may perform just fine when it’s fairly new. Nonetheless, you can almost count on the performance continually decreasing as the unit ages. That means you’ll end up with your HVAC system taking longer to finally cool or heat your home to your desired temperature. Even worse, your cooling system may struggle to keep your home cool enough for you to be fully comfortable once the extreme summer heat sets in.
When it comes to air conditioners and heat pumps, one of the most essential maintenance requirements is cleaning the condenser coil outside and the evaporator coil inside your house. These coils are what enable a cooling system to transfer heat from within a house outside in order to lower the indoor temperature. For a heat pump, the coils also enable the HVAC system to capture heat from outdoors and bring it inside to keep the home sufficiently warm in winter. If the coils aren’t cleaned regularly, this heat transfer process won’t ever be able to work as well as it should. You may also start having issues where the evaporator coil often ices up and prevents your air conditioning from providing any cooling whatsoever. Whenever this happens, it can quickly lead to your home becoming unbearably hot since your only option is to shut your AC off and wait for the coil to thaw before turning the system on again.
2. Improved Energy Efficiency
Another important thing every homeowner should understand is that regular maintenance also has a huge impact on an HVAC system’s energy efficiency. This goes hand-in-hand with the first point since decreased performance leads to longer run times, which in turn results in the HVAC system consuming more energy. During the hottest parts of the Las Vegas summer, it’s fairly normal for your air conditioning to run most of the day. If your AC isn’t well maintained, it can develop a variety of issues that cause it to perform less efficiently and use more energy no matter how much it runs. For instance, dirty coils can lead to the AC or heat pump compressor drawing more energy as it struggles to pump refrigerant through the system.
In terms of maintenance, ensuring you change your air filter regularly and that your ductwork is in good shape is also important. A dirty air filter is one of the biggest issues that contributes to poor cooling/heating performance and decreased efficiency since it greatly restricts how much air your HVAC system can circulate around your house. Leaky ductwork can be an even bigger issue since it can potentially result in an HVAC system wasting as much as 20% to 30% of the energy it uses. Leaky or dirty ductwork is also a major issue in terms of a home’s indoor air quality, which is yet another reason why duct sealing, duct cleaning and regular inspections are so important.
3. Longer HVAC Lifespan
Most HVAC units have an average life expectancy of around 15 years. In the Las Vegas area, many air conditioners and heat pumps only end up lasting 10-12 years simply because the extreme heat puts so much strain on them and makes them work so hard. That said, you’ll usually be lucky if your unit lasts even close to a decade if you don’t schedule a maintenance service every year. If you have a heat pump, you should have it maintained twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall, since it runs year-round.
The reason that regular maintenance can have such a major impact on an HVAC system’s lifespan is that it helps to minimize wear and tear. If your HVAC isn’t performing effectively, all of the extra hours it has to run will quickly start to add up. A neglected HVAC system can also end up developing fatal issues that cause it to fail all of a sudden and leave you with no option but to have it replaced.
4. Reduced Risk of Breakdowns
Another similar issue is that the increased wear and tear creates a higher risk of your heating or cooling system breaking down. The last thing you obviously want to happen is for your AC to suddenly quit working in the middle of the summer. This can lead to your home becoming dangerously hot if you can’t get the repairs taken care of immediately. If your heating were to suddenly give out in the middle of winter, you also face a risk of your plumbing freezing when the temperature plummets overnight.
Virtually every HVAC system will inevitably require at least some repairs throughout its life, but a neglected system will almost always require a lot more repairs. There’s also a far greater chance of your HVAC system developing more serious issues that require repairs that could cost well over $1,000. If your HVAC stops working, you could also be forced to pay higher prices for an emergency repair.
5. Protecting Your HVAC Warranty
Most new HVAC units come with at least a 10-year manufacturer’s warranty that protects you in case your system has any defective components. While most HVAC warranties don’t cover labor costs, your warranty will at least provide a free replacement part that can save you some serious money. The only issue is that HVAC warranties stipulate that the system must be maintained each year by a certified technician. If you don’t have records proving your HVAC was maintained every year, your warranty will likely be void and you’ll have to pay for everything yourself. This can be an especially big problem in case of an issue like a failed AC/heat pump compressor or a cracked heat exchanger in a furnace. Replacing these components can end up costing about the same as having a whole new unit installed.
Bumble Breeze is a locally owned company that provides exceptional HVAC and plumbing services to home and business owners throughout the Las Vegas area. We service and repair all makes and models of central air conditioners, heat pumps, furnaces, boilers and ductless HVAC systems. That means that no matter what type of cooling and heating your home has, you can trust our experienced team to expertly handle all of your maintenance needs. Customers who enroll in our maintenance plan also receive great additional benefits such as discounts on repairs, installation and duct cleaning, priority scheduling and free diagnostic services. To learn more about the benefits of regular HVAC maintenance or to schedule a service call, contact us today.
