These last couple of weeks in the Raleigh, Clayton, and even Garner areas have just been a heat wave we haven’t seen in North Carolina for a few years. These dogs days of summer are taking a toll on your air conditioner and our HVAC service experts have been slammed busy making sure the local Triangle residents are able to stay cool and comfortable in their homes by performing maintenance checks on AC systems.
Keeping the air cold in your Raleigh home during this heat and humidity may be the most important thing for local homeowners. At Island Breeze we will give you 3 tips to help the performance of your HVAC unit during these hots days, and to help it run more efficiently during this heat wave, and give us more time to get to your air conditioning repair service during the hottest days of summer:
1) Clean Your Return Vents
Most Raleigh, NC homes will have one or two of these vents either on your ceiling, in a wall, or even on the floor of your house. These air conditioner vents can acquire a lot of dust throughout the year, and that dust will prevent smooth air flow throughout your home in Raleigh, Clayton, and Beyond. All you need to do is simply run your vacuum wand with the dust brush and run it across your vents to suck up that dust. If you are able to get vent off, get the inside of the vent and just inside of the duct. You don’t want to get too deep into the ducts because you may damage them. We suggest calling on a professional duct cleaning company if you feel you need to clean your air conditioning ducts, or reach out to Island Breeze and we can help you as well
2) Get Rid of Your Fancy Filters
A lot of Raleigh homeowners want the best for their houses and they tend to buy the high efficiency filters that are sold to you as the best choice of air filter, coincidentally enough they are also the most expensive filters you can buy where you live in Raleigh, or around the Triangle. The facts of the matter are that these fancier, more expensive filters actually will restrict more air flow to and from your air conditioning system. Our best advice would be to throw out the expensive “high efficiency” filters and buy a standard fiberglass air filter. They are perfectly designed for your HVAC system and you will definitely see the difference in efficiency of your air conditioner.
3) Clean Your Outdoor Unit
Before you start with this tip, make sure you turn off the power to your air conditioning unit before you start! Safety First!
Your outdoor air conditioning unit is constantly pulling air into your Raleigh home. The outdoor unit almost acts as an outdoor filter that is blocking pollen, dirt, and other debris from entering your home. If that unit is not cleaned regularly it could lead to larger problems for your HVAC unit in the future. The only things you will need to clean your outdoor unit quickly is a simple garden hose and a bottle of dish soap (you will want to dilute the soap with water so that you are not getting too many suds once you start to clean). Squirt the soap on the outside of the side vents all around the unit. Then take your garden hose and spray the vents down so that it rinses off all the soap you had sprayed on until all the suds or bubbles are gone.
Important: Do not use a pressure washer on your Air Conditioning unit as it could cause damage to the entire unit because of the force of the water.
After about 10-15 minutes after you wash the unit turn power back on and test the air flow once again.
These tips are to help Triangle area homeowners keep the air in their home cool and the air conditioner efficient during this hot and humid stretch of weather. These are some things you can do yourself that may save you sweat and money in the future by calling a service expert to come out and look at your air conditioner during this busy time of year.
However, if there are any more concerning issues happening with your air conditioner, and you don’t feel comfortable trying any of these tips by yourself, check in with Island Breeze HVAC. We have been serving the Raleigh area and Clayton area of North Carolina for over 25 years and we will be there for you!!
