Your air conditioner has been turned off for months and now it is time to turn it on again. In order to avoid unpleasant surprises, it is a good idea to schedule maintenance to have the device working at its full potential. But how to clean the air conditioner properly?
Let’s find out the steps to follow before switching on air conditioners to avoid malfunctions and optimise consumption. We also see how it is possible to carry out air conditioning maintenance independently and on which occasions it is necessary to call in a technician.
Index:
- How to clean your AC filters
- How to clean the outdoor unit
- Detect an AC refrigerant leak
- AC maintenance
How to clean your AC filters
To ensure that healthy air comes out of the air conditioner we have to make sure that the filters are clean. This is a relatively simple operation that you can do yourself at home, with the help, perhaps, of the air conditioner’s instruction manual.
The filters are located in the split, usually, you just have to lift the front panel to find them. They are easy to spot: they are those plastic grilles that have a very important function. Dust, pollen, bacteria, pollutants and, more generally, all air impurities are retained in these ‘barriers’. If the filters are dirty, they will lose their ability to act as a filter, leaving all the impurities not retained in the air we breathe.
Dirty filters will also contribute to malfunctioning of the air conditioner, reducing the cooling efficiency of the room in which it is installed.
To clean them, simply take them out of the split and wash them with running water and a cleaning spray until all dirt is removed, and then put them back in the unit.
Please note!
Before putting them back in the unit, care must be taken to ensure that the filters are completely dry, and that they do not conceal any water residues: otherwise, they could cause moisture and mould, which would damage both the air conditioner and the people who would breathe that air.
How to clean the outdoor unit
The outdoor unit needs to be cleaned periodically too. A dirty motor can cause several problem:
– higher noise level
– higher consumption
– Pollution
It is clear that the air conditioner motor, being designed to be outside, is vulnerable to the weather. And, therefore, it is necessary to take a look at it from time to time to avoid malfunctioning.
After having removed the external grille, we can use a brush to remove the dust on the blades; immediately afterwards, we can pass a damp cloth over them to complete the work, using a special air conditioner cleaner or alternatively, a normal kitchen degreaser to perfect the cleaning. If, near the fan, we notice an accumulation of debris (e.g. dry leaves), we can use a hoover to remove them.
Detect an AC refrigerant leak
As part of air conditioner maintenance, the search for gas leaks is also included. This is, however, an operation that must be carried out by a technician. Usually, it should not be necessary – except after years of operation – to intervene and refill the air conditioner with refrigerant.
But how do you realise that you need to call in a technician? How do you realise that you need to refill the refrigerant in the air conditioner?
One factor that should certainly not be underestimated is the level of cooling: if you notice that your AC is no longer cooling its environment properly, you should call a technician to find out whether the system needs to be checked for leaks and, if so, put gas back into the unit.
AC maintenance
Small steps that we have proposed to carry out air conditioner maintenance by yourself are really simple but fundamental to ensure the proper functioning of the air-conditioning unit.
Should the problem be more serious, as inherent to leakage or refrigerant refilling, and you need the intervention of a technician, you can still be satisfied with your intervention because you were able to understand the problem and act before the situation worsened.
Maintaining air conditioners properly and correctly is a habit that should become a regular appointment at least once a year. The aim is to avoid malfunctions and to breathe healthy air inside the rooms where they are installed.
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