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Air conditioners have always been popular, but they used to be pricey to buy and costly to run. These days they are less expensive to buy. It is not so bad if you live somewhere where you require heating for three months and cooling for three months, but if you live somewhere where you need one unit or other running twenty-for hours a day, seven days a week, it is still costly.

However, the luxury that they impart to your life is amazing. But, the thing to bear in mind is that air conditioners, like all machines, do require servicing. That is, the actual moving parts, lubricants and other fluids need to be checked professionally every two years (or whatever it says in your handbook). There are other parts though that have to be checked far more often than that – maybe even monthly.

The good news is that you can carry out this maintenance yourself. I am talking about the filter. All good, modern air conditioning units come with an integrated filter. It depends on the sophistication of your air conditioner, what its filter can trap, but most will filter tiny particles such as pollen and traffic pollution out of the air it is circulating in the room.

These filters have to be cleaned or replaced pretty frequently and you will have to check your air conditioner’s handbook to find out what you can do. Frequently, it will say that they can be cleaned two or three times with either soapy water and a tooth brush or vacuumed clean. After that they have to be replaced, in order for the unit to be completely effective.

If you need to replace your air filter, you may find the following hints useful.

The best place to start is either the main dealer for your make of air conditioner, the people you bought it from or the people who fitted it for you. At least, you know you can trust them, even if it is only a matter of ‘better the devil you know’. Many of the stores that sell other makes of air conditioner may stock filters for your model as a sideline too.

You are already using the Internet, so that is another excellent place to check for current prices and bargains, before you go traipsing around town. ‘Fore-warned is fore-armed’, as they say. You can use the price knowledge you acquire from your Internet surfing as a bargaining tool to get the best price locally.

If that does not work or you simply cannot be bothered, order on line and your air conditioner filter will be with you in a few day anyway. By the way, like with vacuum cleaner bags, it is normally better to buy several at a time. For instance, if you know that they will survive three washes, then each filter will last four months. Why not buy three and be done with it for a year?

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with central air conditioning systems. If you are interested in Home Air Conditioning Systems, please click through to our site.

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More and more people are discovering the benefits of a home air conditioning system, because prices have dropped in relation to to wages over recent years. However, most people’s approach is ‘out of sight, out of mind’. That is, until they get home from work on a sweltering hot summer’s afternoon and the air con does not work.

The most frequent cause of this is years of no maintenance. The only way that you will get the most from air conditioning systems, as with any machine, is to maintain it according to the manufacturer’s recommended agenda and get it checked over by a specialist every two or three years, whatever the manual says. You cannot completely eliminate the professional check up, but you can carry out the basic maintenance yourself, which will save you at least two years of charges.

Here then are my most essential basic air conditioning maintenance tips.

If you have a central air conditioner, clean or replace the air filter roughly once a month during the hot weather period. This will help extend the life of your air conditioning apparatus, raise its level of efficiency (thereby reducing running costs) and improve the quality of the air in your home.

The two standard kinds of air filters are the washable steel mesh form and the woven fibre glass type which is not reusable. These filters slide into the ductwork or blower compartment. You can further improve the performance of your central air conditioner by clearing all the grass, bushes, flowers and picking up the debris from around the outside compressor box.

Furthermore, if the outdoor apparatus is ever in full sunlight when it is in use, put up a small structure like a simple lean-to over it to keep it in the shade. Then it will not have to labour so hard. It will also keep the snow and rain out of it throughout the winter. Get both the internal and external units checked by an expert every two years.

Other basic air conditioning maintenance tips are to take the ‘top’ off your blower unit before the start of the summer and grant it some attention. Gently scrape the build-up of dust and grease on the blades of the fan, Then lightly oil the fan’s shaft and bearings so that it will turn more freely. If your fan or blower is belt driven, check the fan belt for wear, tension and alignment. Rectify as you would for a car.

The motors on most modern blower units are completely sealed and self-lubricating, but the older ones have an oil reservoir which has to be refilled every year. Check that, clean the sump, if you have one and fill up with clean oil.

You can also scrub the coil, which is a loop of metal tubing. Vacuum it and then lightly clean it with a tooth brush and something like methylated spirits in order to degrease it. Mop up any spillage. All of these jobs can be applied to the outside unit too, because it too has a fan and a coil. Clean any cobwebs from the case’s vents too.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with central air conditioning systems. If you are interested in Home Air Conditioning Systems, please click through to our site.