How Skipping Annual Maintenance Harms Your AC Unit and Wallet

The buzz of an operating air conditioner is the music of a cool summer. This reliable, refreshing coolness is easy to take for granted — until the system fails. Given the struggling economy, it may be tempting to forgo your annual professional tune-up for simply skimping on a few dollars now; however, this neglect puts you in a vicious cycle that will ultimately prove far more costly and damaging both to your Residential Air Conditioning Systems as well as your wallet for the long term.

The first thing that happens when you put off basic maintenance is your energy efficiency starts to fall -- slowly, but inevitably. Parts inside an air conditioner become dirty over time from collecting dust, dirt, and debris. These are the evaporator and the condenser coils, which are actually the heart of such cooling systems. This makes the system work much harder and longer to get up to the temperature set on the thermostat. But all the extra use that accompanies it means a lot more won’t-fix-itself things can get broken now, and here’s another fun part: That added work also translates to a higher number on your monthly utility bills. What you are really doing is paying more for less cooling. A system that is cleaned and serviced regularly operates at its peak, meaning it uses the least possible amount of energy; one that’s ignored can be a rogue drain on your resources, quietly increasing your monthly outlay.

Aside from the daily inefficiency, missing your annual inspection puts you at very high risk of costly emergencies. An AC technician’s job during a routine visit isn’t just to clean the coils; it is to give your machine a checkup. They search for small refrigerant leaks, sweat electrical connections that would be a fire hazard were they to become loose, and check components that are prone to wear, like belts, motors, and contactors. Ignored, such small issues grow into large problems that eventually will fail catastrophically and expensively. For example, if there is a small leak in the refrigerant system, the compressor continues running without enough coolant, causing it to work unreasonably hard until it eventually fuses and needs to be replaced at an exorbitant price—frequently equalling or exceeding that of a nearly complete new system installation. No one wants to have a unit halt during the hottest day of the season and require emergency service with an additional fee and waiting period. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, right?

In addition, choosing to forgo yearly maintenance can ultimately reduce the life of the whole unit. Residential Air Conditioning Systems are built to serve for a long time, but only when well-maintained. If you let the machine continue to work under the stress of dirty coils and bad parts, you are speeding up how quickly they break down. This unnecessary stress wears away at the expected system’s longer life. When weighed against the colossal financial outlay of having to buy and install an entirely new unit tear before it’s ready, you’ve got a big investment protected by your relatively minimal annual tune-up expense. It's sound financial planning to want to safeguard your initial investment from water by keeping everything clean and operating smoothly.

Another covert cost of neglect is what it can do to the manufacturer's warranty. Many of the Best Air Conditioning Companies Preface their warranties that the homeowner prove that their system was maintained annually by an HVAC Professional in order to be covered. In the event one of your core pieces breaks down, and you don’t have proof of proper service, the manufacturer most likely will deny warranty coverage, which means you could be on the hook for an entire bill that might otherwise have been a covered repair or replacement. In this instance, saving an issue on the tune-up costs you directly thousands of lost coverages.

Your home’s air quality also finally begins to suffer. Your home’s atmosphere control is largely in the hands of your air conditioner. Unmaintained filters become clogged, and your system's wet interior becomes a haven for mold, mildew, and bacteria. All of these impurities then cycle throughout your home, exacerbating allergies and respiratory problems. Technician service includes drain and coil treatment, air filters inspected, so more clean, healthy air in your home. When you select a reliable service deliverer who takes care of units manufactured by Best Air Conditioner Manufacturers, you know that your device will be focused on performance and health.

You’re living a pipe dream if you think the response of forgoing annual AC maintenance is anything other than postponing one smaller and affordable cost in favor of an even larger, far more inconvenient expense. For the overall health of your Residential Air Conditioning Systems, for long-term life of house comfort-ability, and for saving you money in the end by lowering your bills, cutting down on breakdowns & extending its potential life cycle schedule once a once-a-year service call to address those forgotten filters can provide dividends in curtailing future inflated costs.