Spring Means Central Air Conditioner Check-Up

Posted by Kelly Smith Mar 10, 2009

Another season change, another year older, uh, I mean better! Anyhow, spring is the time to check out the home air conditioner, give it a cleaning, and have the refrigerant checked.

Why go to the trouble? Your AC is a big investment, for one thing. Secondly, you're going to want it working as energy-efficiently as possible. The new president has promised Obama's big tax breaks (remains to be seen), but more importantly, he means to put Cap and Trade in effect. This policy will cause energy taxes to rise sharply.

What this boils down to is this: a massive increase in taxes on traditional energy production as a result of "capping" the amount of carbon emissions, and allowing entities to "trade" carbon points. Like trading Pokemon cards on a global stage I suppose.

Will this put Al Gore on the spot? He'll have to do something to keep his mansion and private plane running while he chides the rest of us for not turning out the bathroom light.

Hey, Transcanada Pipeline, let's hurry it up on the Keystone project, eh?

But back to your AC maintenance. Chances are that you won't be buying or selling any carbon points to India in order to save the polar ice cap or big cuddly polar bears, so it's important to first learn how air conditioners work.

It's really not that complicated, and while you'll have to bring in a pro HVAC service company to do things like recharge your freon or puron, there are things you can do yourself to minimize what you pay them to do.

But here's the easiest task any also the most overlooked: just change out your filter monthly; the smoother the air flow, the less the unit has to work. Now, stay cool!