There is nothing wrong with doing home repair jobs on your own, but if you don’t know what you are doing, you could end up with a bigger problem that you had before. Many homeowners are finding out the hard way this summer that certain “do it yourself” air conditioner repairs should have been left to the pros. One of these repairs in particular involves the air conditioner’s coil and years of neglected maintenance.

Clogged Coils

Leaving the air conditioner without a proper cleaning for years and years will eventually lead to problems with the cooling in your home. Most homeowners notice that the air conditioner just isn’t quite keeping up with the heat, and will contact an HVAC company to investigate the issue. Lack of maintenance can cause many issues, but a common one is a dirty coil. The coil in your air conditioner’s condenser is responsible for removing heat from the air that will be circulated through your home. When this coil becomes laden with dirt and debris buildup, it can’t absorb heat from the air as easily and will therefore not allow the home to cool down as efficiently.

Leave it to the Pros!

Any service technician that knows what they are doing will be able to recognize a clogged coil from a mile away. The technicians should also have a specialized cleaning agent that they will use on the coils if the homeowner decides to allow the technician to clean the coil. Unfortunately, many homeowners hear the word “cleaning” and automatically assume that this is something simple that they can handle on their own. They couldn’t be more wrong!

Step Away from the Pressure Washer

Many begin by first trying to simply hose off the coils, but find that this is not nearly enough to blast away the years of neglect. This is usually where they make their biggest mistake. Pressure washers suddenly seem like the perfect tool to complete the job, and although they do render the coil spotless, they also smash the aluminum fins. Once bent and destroyed there is little that the homeowner can do to repair the fins. Instead, they are now faced with the hefty cost of replacing the coils. Don’t make this silly mistake and trust your HVAC technician to get the coil back in shape. Then to prevent this problem in the years to come, have the unit maintained regularly.

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