How To Prevent Winter Problems With Your Air Conditioner

Winter can pose somewhat of a challenge for many air conditioning units if they’re not cared for correctly. Last week on the blog here at Askews, we looked in detail about some of the most common problems many people find with their air conditioning systems in winter, as well as one or two tips on how to prevent them. This week we’re going one step further – here are a few helpful pieces of advice on how to prevent problems before they arise.

Keep Your Unit Clear From Obstructions

Whether it’s your vents inside or your condenser outside, all parts of your air conditioning unit should always be free from obstructions. A blocked vent or other pathway can result in the unit having to work a lot harder to maintain the same output, which can mean a drastically reduced efficiency. Depending on its placement, your outside condenser might face a couple of obstacles, including dried leaves and other debris, falling ice, or simply a light layer of frost coalescing on the outside of the unit. Leaves and debris can block the fan, while a buildup of frost can stop it from moving altogether.

It’s worth checking your outside unit occasionally for these issues, especially if you start feeling the effects inside. If you’re having to deal with the same problems frequently, it might be worth thinking about ways to cover your condenser unit for the winter, shielding it from physical impacts. If you are going to use a cover, make sure that it’s made of breathable material, otherwise condensation could build up and result in a thin layer of mould – as you might imagine, this doesn’t do wonders for your unit!

Maintaining Comfort Inside

To briefly reiterate, the same rules apply inside your home, too – make sure that nothing is blocking the indoor vents. In fact, while you’re looking at the vents, it’s worth positioning the louvres (the little rows of flaps) down as vertically as possible, without actually closing them. This ensures that heat is forced down quickly into a room.

We’ve talked before about the best approach to setting the temperature in your office, and if you’re at home then broadly it’s a good idea to follow the same rules when setting the temperature for your house, too. That means don’t set your heating to maximum (say, like 30^oC) in the hopes of getting the house to heat up faster – it doesn’t quite work like that! Not only will it not heat up your home any more quickly, it will put unnecessary short and long-term strain on the system. A better way to do it is only set it to as high as you need. Most homes and offices find that 23^oC is perfectly comfortable, and well within the abilities of most systems.

Of course, there may sometimes be an issue that you can’t foresee – and even if you could, you might not always be able to do something about it. It just underlines the importance of proper service and maintenance, which is something we excel at here at Askews.

Our experienced engineers are experts in all matters of repairing and maintaining heating and cooling systems, and there’s no better remedy to avoiding issues than preventative maintenance, giving you peace of mind whatever your industry. You can click here for a free quote, or call us on 01282 863 825.

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