Your home’s HVAC system is critical to keeping your home both comfortable and safe, especially during the hot and humid Florida summers. As a mechanical system, your home’s heating and cooling system needs routine maintenance to get the most from it while protecting your wallet. Consider these seven benefits of regular HVAC maintenance, whether you have a central or ductless mini-split system.
1. Lower Energy Bills
Every HVAC system slowly loses its efficiency over time as less air flows through it and as components wear. Both of these issues cause the system to gradually consume more energy while working to keep your home comfortable. Maintaining your HVAC system will reduce strain and keep your energy bills lower.
2. Fewer Preventable Breakdowns
Your HVAC system will eventually need repairs, with internal components wearing out and needing replacing. The more strain your system experiences, the more wear it’ll also experience, causing these components to wear out more quickly.
During routine maintenance, a technician will deep clean your system to ensure that there aren’t any airflow restrictions. This includes the heat exchanger in the fall and the evaporator coil in the spring, along with other components like the circulating fan wheel. The technician will also tighten all mounting hardware and electrical connections. Finally, they will test the system by looking for any components that show signs of working suboptimally, which is a precursor to component failure.
3. Longer Service Life
Heat pumps or air conditioners on the Florida coast have an expected service life of 8 to 14 years. This is slightly shorter than the national average due to the excess salt and humidity in the air. Gas furnaces may last as long as 15 to 20 years or more.
While you can wait for a catastrophic failure to replace your system, this will leave you with significantly more paid out in repairs than necessary. Rather, plan to replace your system when one of two factors is met. This first is when any one repair equals more than 50% of the cost of a new system. The second is when the combined costs of repairs over the last two years multiplied by the age of the system is more than the cost of a new system. Clearly, preventable repairs can significantly shift how long the system will last.
4. Better Air Quality
Improving your home’s air quality is a secondary benefit of your home’s HVAC system. When the system loses its efficiency, it tends to circulate less air, which means it removes fewer airborne contaminants. By maintaining your system’s efficiency, you increase the air flowing through the system, which improves your home’s air quality.
5. Protected System Warranty
Most HVAC equipment has a factory warranty covering manufacturing defects and premature failures. Most people don’t realize that manufacturers include terms with those warranties that, when left unmet, will invalidate that warranty. One common term is that you will get routine maintenance for your system to ensure that it doesn’t suffer excessive wear. Remember, another common term is that a professional must perform all services on the system, so don’t attempt to do it yourself.
6. Reduced Repair Costs
As components wear and break down, you’ll need to have them replaced. Keep in mind that one component working suboptimally will strain other components in the system. Over time, this results in more components needing replacing, including more expensive ones. By simply maintaining your system regularly and reducing the strain, you keep wear to a minimum and reduce both the number and severity of necessary repairs.
7. Better Home Comfort
Your HVAC system depends on airflow to circulate conditioned air throughout your home. When the system doesn’t have sufficient airflow, it causes warm and cool spots in your home. By getting regular maintenance, you ensure that the system is circulating the proper amount of air, which distributes conditioned air more evenly and keeps your home at a more consistent temperature.
Whenever people around Cape Coral need home services they can trust, they’ve turned to Ultimate Homes & Cooling for more than 20 years. Our team takes pride in our heating and AC maintenance, repair and installation, indoor air quality solutions, residential electrical services, and pool heater and pump services. Call to schedule your HVAC maintenance appointment with one of our NATE-certified technicians today.
