JACKSON, Miss. – When there is hot weather, it can be hard on your air conditioning unit. A heatwave is expected Wednesday in Mississippi and you may want make sure that your A/C is in ship shape. Shane Roland services air conditioning units for Hermetic Rush and he says an obvious sign that your A/C is on the fritz could be an irregularly high energy bill.
“If you don’t keep you’re air conditioning clean and running properly, you could be purchasing a new system which is going to cost you a lot more than if you had been getting worked on it the entire time,” said Roland.
Tuesday, I went out on ride with Roland to watch him service someone’s A/C in Flowood. Not knowing much about A/C units myself, I had to ask Roland a lot of questions. Here are some things I picked up during the ride-along that you may be able to help you.
The thing I circled in this professionally crafted MSpaint photo is the capacitor. The capacitor may be located somewhere differently on your outside A/C unit. It looks like a metal cylinder with 3 or more wires coming out of the top of it. It regulates the A/C’s voltage. If this is rusted, (like the one in the picture) it is a good idea to get it replaced. A bad capacitor could cause damage to other electrical components in your A/C. Roland says this is the most common part replaced on A/C’s so it is best to get a quality one that will last you a long time.
In this next picture “THIS” is the A/C unit’s compressor. In the simplest terms, it is where the hot air is pushed out of your house and cool is pushed into your house. A good looking compressor may have a little sweat coming off of it. Also, it is normal for one of the pipes leading away from the compressor to have sweat coming off of it too. However, if liquid starts to puddle under either one of them, it could be a sign that you have too much freon in your A/C.
Finally, “all this” should be cleaned out; it is the metal grid that surrounds the fan on your outside unit. Roland says mostly old folks know about this, and they usually just have at it with a garden hose. This acts as a filter for the outside unit and will allow air to move more freely after it is cleaned, putting less of a strain on your unit.
Remember, you should turn your A/C off before you having a look at it. Also, it is best to call a professional if you do not have the proper training to fix it. You could end up causing more damage, or even hurt yourself.
