Hvac ?
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Senior User
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 212
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From: Portsmouth, VA
Hvac ?
I am already thinking about warm weather. Is there any maintenance a homeowner can do on a HVAC system. Mine is only about 3 years old but I just want to keep it maintained. Looking forward to the days on AIR CONDITIONING
Junior User
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 59
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From: Stewart, MN
First things first. You need to be licened by the EPA to work on the refrigerant charge and you should let a qualified service tech handle that. Air flow is the key. Keep your filters changed in your furnace (I change mine once a month) and use a good quality pleated filter. I like the 3M pleated Filtreat 1000's but most mid range pleated filters are good. You don't want one too restrictive and that will burn out your blower motor and you don't want one of those see through cheape filters that wont catch anything. Pull your blower fan and check to make sure that the fins are clean. Keep weeds, bushes and tall grass at least a foot away from the outside unit, they block airflow to the unit and it makes it easer for us service techs to work on it! Wash the outdoor coils with a garden hose and a spray nozzel. Don't bend the fins over and make sure that you have clean water coming throug they can get pretty dirty . If you have cottonwood trees near by, you may want to wash the outside a couple times a year
Posting Guru
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 1,903
Likes: 2
From: Wyoming
If you are into HVAC engineering, read all about it at www.hpac.com
Not really home-owner oriented, but if you're an engineering geek like me, it's pretty cool....
Not really home-owner oriented, but if you're an engineering geek like me, it's pretty cool....
Junior User
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 59
Likes: 0
From: Stewart, MN
The blower fan is behind the lower door on your furnace. You should need some nut drivers or a small socket set to remove it. The indoor coil is usualy in the ductwork above the furnace and isn't acessable unless you cut a hole in your ductwork and with the age of your system and if you change your filters regularaly you shoulden't need to clean them.
Posting Guru
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,437
Likes: 1
From: Hamilton, ohio
the best things you can do and not need a license for is:
1. clean the condensing unit coils (a/c unit outside the house)
2. clean the "A" or slant coils
3. make sure your air filter is clean and keep a good eye on that
4. keep tall grass and debris away from condensing unit.
for the coils they make a coil brush you can use and bio degradeable acids or solvents to clean them also. if there are kids around be sure to use the bio degradable stuff. i work for an apartment complex and deal with this stuff all the time during a/c season. we have slant coils in the apartments and we clean those with a fin comb. unfortunatly we can keep the outsude units very clean because the land scapers really pile the mulch around them and management wont don anything about that or the bushes around them. if you keep up on the maintenance of your system you might see lower electric bills, and the system will cool more efficently
1. clean the condensing unit coils (a/c unit outside the house)
2. clean the "A" or slant coils
3. make sure your air filter is clean and keep a good eye on that
4. keep tall grass and debris away from condensing unit.
for the coils they make a coil brush you can use and bio degradeable acids or solvents to clean them also. if there are kids around be sure to use the bio degradable stuff. i work for an apartment complex and deal with this stuff all the time during a/c season. we have slant coils in the apartments and we clean those with a fin comb. unfortunatly we can keep the outsude units very clean because the land scapers really pile the mulch around them and management wont don anything about that or the bushes around them. if you keep up on the maintenance of your system you might see lower electric bills, and the system will cool more efficently
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