Keeping your home cool as the weather starts to warm up can be as critical as keeping it warm in the winter. If you live in the southern part of the US, you may have to deal with high temperatures and humidity that make your home uncomfortable, so residential cooling system maintenance is essential.

Basic Checkups

It is a good idea to have a basic check or inspection of your home's cooling system annually. Often people start to think about residential cooling system maintenance when the temperatures begin to climb, but planning your service call for early spring gives you the chance to get the maintenance done before you need to turn on the air conditioning in your home. 

Set up an appointment with your HVAC service provider, and have them go over the system to determine if any parts should be replaced before the mercury starts to rise. The tech working on your system can let you know what, if anything, needs to be replaced, and then they can service the cooling system for you. 

Residential cooling system maintenance includes changing air filters, checking the blower motor's function, checking the refrigerant lines for leaks, and checking any drive belts used in the system. The entire inspection should not take more than a couple of hours, but allow some extra time in case there is a part that the tech needs to replace somewhere in the system. 

System Cleaning

Cleaning the evaporator coils and other areas that can collect dirt in your residential cooling system is essential. Dirt can stop air from circulating correctly around the coils, and the result is often a frozen coil and a system that is no longer producing the cool air it should. 

The evaporator and condenser depend on warm air moving over the coils to draw off the cold air around them. If there is not warm air passing through the system, the coils will continue to get colder until they freeze, and then no air can get through. Having the technician who is working on your system clean the coils is an excellent way to prevent that problem, and it only takes a couple of minutes while they have the heat pump open. 

Check The Thermostat

Included in your residential cooling system maintenance should be a check of the thermostat that controls your home's temperature. The thermostat is one of the most common failure points in any heating and cooling system, so checking it will allow you to fix it if it is not working correctly. 

If you want to upgrade to a smart thermostat, you can have the tech install one for you, giving you the option to check the temperature and set it from your smartphone or another connected device. 

To learn more about residential cooling maintenance, contact a company like Air Comfort Complete Inc.