5 HVAC Maintenance Tips Every Homeowner Should Know

HVAC systems are among the most complicated and important features of your home. The price of HVAC maintenance and repair services adds up quickly, so if you want to avoid these costs, it’s imperative that you learn how to perform basic HVAC troubleshooting in your own home before you need it. These five HVAC maintenance tips will help you keep your system running smoothly year-round and save you time and money in the long run.

1) Regular maintenance prevents breakdowns

Maintaining your HVAC system doesn’t require regular trips to a service center—not if you can do a few simple things yourself. Checking connections, inspecting filters, making sure there are no loose parts, and watching out for rust and corrosion are all-important checks. It’s relatively easy to do most of these inspections by yourself—and it could save you hundreds of dollars in repair costs down the road. A little preventative maintenance goes a long way.

2) Buyer beware: Check the fine print on warranties

Most warranties are theoretical at best. In reality, they exist to make manufacturers and contractors look good and to cover their butts when something goes wrong—not to make sure you have a properly functioning HVAC system for many years into your home’s future. When looking into warranties, be sure to ask about how often service is included, as well as what is (and isn’t) covered in terms of installation costs, service fees, and parts. And don’t forget to check out reviews from previous customers on sites like Google My Business; word-of-mouth is a great way to find reliable contractors who will do quality work and stand behind it.

3) Heating & cooling units age at different rates

If you’re a homeowner, it’s easy to forget that your heating and cooling units are machines with moving parts. Because of this, these units degrade at different rates: Your system’s heating component may age more quickly than its air conditioning component does. As a result, you should familiarize yourself with five maintenance tips for both your heating and cooling systems that every homeowner should know. (1) Clean or replace your filters regularly. (2) Make sure you change your filter when recommended by manufacturer guidelines or when levels in an indoor air quality test reach 10 percent or higher. (3) Schedule annual tune-ups. (4) Have ductwork cleaned annually if problems arise.

4) Use your unit’s controls to its fullest potential

In most cases, using a thermostat is as simple as setting your preferred temperature and letting your unit do its thing. But if you want to use advanced features like scheduling or energy reports, you’ll have to do some reading up on how to access those controls. Read more about accessing and using your home’s climate control system here. And for even more tips, check out our ultimate guide to keeping your AC running smoothly all summer long.

5) Get a second opinion before calling a repairman

A second opinion can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars on needless repairs. Before calling in a repairman, see if you can fix these simple problems yourself. Here are 5 common furnaces and AC troubleshooting tips that every homeowner should know before getting down to business. For example, when your air conditioner starts to freeze up during operation (often accompanied by a loud buzzing noise), it may be suffering from frost buildup inside. To solve it: open your window for about an hour or so; close it again; turn off your unit for an hour or two; then restart it and set it at a higher temperature. It’s also important to keep records of maintenance performed on your system – or any time something is repaired – so you have a record in case something goes wrong later.

For more HVAC tips feel free to talk with one of our HVAC specialists by, scheduling an appointment for AC repair in Carrollton, TX. You can also reach out to us at (214) 934-6728 to know more about HVAC in Carrollton, TX, and surrounding areas.