Congratulations! By regularly scheduling heating and cooling maintenance with a licensed professional dealer, you may be extending the life of your system! Now that contracted maintenance has been scheduled, it’s time to prepare for the technicians visit.
Before the Technician Visit
Do you know what equipment will be serviced? If possible, you should identify the manufacturer and model number of your equipment so it is immediately available to the technician upon their arrival at your home. You may be able to locate this from your initial bill of sale. If this information is not available from your paperwork, you should not attempt to open any equipment in order to access this information.
During the Service Call
Your HVAC technician may perform a complete system check. They may inspect all parts of a system, clean it as necessary, and perform the routine maintenance specific to your system. Depending on the equipment being evaluated, a routine HVAC maintenance service call may include the following:
- Inspecting main HVAC components
- Checking for adequate air flow
- Inspection of refrigerant lines
- Clearing drain lines and pans
- Inspecting exterior fan
- Tightening electrical connections
- Inspecting system controls
- Inspecting and lubricating moving parts
- Replacing parts that are showing wear and tear
- Replacing air filters
- Checking electrical connections
Proper airflow is an important aspect of indoor comfort. If you believe you have an airflow issue, talk to your technician about checking ductwork. If the technician discovers that your ductwork is leaking, they may recommend duct sealing. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) estimates that a typical U.S. home loses 20%-30% of duct system air due to leaks, holes, and poor connections.1 According to the DOE, sealing HVAC air ducts can drastically reduce duct leakage and improve both indoor air quality and overall system efficiency.
Follow Up
Routinely servicing your indoor heating or cooling equipment by a licensed professional HVAC technician is as important as taking your car to a mechanic for its required oil changes and maintenance. If an extended service contract or agreement is not already in place, technicians may often offer to set up a maintenance agreement wherein the customer agrees to pay a set fee for standardized scheduled system maintenance. Routine maintenance may extend the life of your HVAC equipment and possibly prevent minor issues from turning into expensive major problems over time.
By Jen (Anesi) Roby, former Legislative Editor at ACHR NEWS magazine and current Chief Editor for Plumbing & Mechanical. The Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration (ACHR) NEWS is the HVACR contractor’s weekly newsmagazine and is the industry’s most trusted and utilized direct communications link to the HVACR buyer.
1 Duct Sealing. (2017). Retrieved from Energy Star: https://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=home_improvement.hm_improvement_ducts
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