An air conditioner is an appliance with plenty of moving parts and provides your home with a major service. The service is not exactly necessary for a home, but it is a nice one to have during those hot summer months. Part of enjoying this convenience is taking care of it properly. This is going to require you to maintain your air conditioning system. If you aren't sure what type of maintenance your air conditioner system needs, read on for helpful information.

1. Clean The Unit

The exterior unit needs to be cleaned often, especially if you have a lot of trees in the area, which can produce a lot of pollen or cottonwood. All of these things can clog your air conditioning system and it could block the flow of air moving into the system. Without proper airflow, your air conditioner can shut down. In this case, you need to clean your air conditioner often and spray the unit down to remove all of this buildup. Again, if you have a lot of trees, you are going to need to clean the unit more than once throughout the season. Cleaning the unit only requires that you have a garden hose, as you don't need a strong spray. A strong spray such as using a pressure washer can bend the fins on the unit. Spray the garden hose all the way around the unit to remove the buildup.

2. Clear The Perimeter

Clear the area around the perimeter of the unit. If you have a lot of growth around the unit such as grass, plants, trees, or bushes, you need to clip this back and give your unit enough "breathing" room. If there is too much growth around the unit, the system isn't going to have enough air. This can also shut down the system, just like having too much debris stuck to the fins of the unit. Clear the perimeter of the unit throughout the warm-weather season.

3. Replace The Air Filter

As with the maintenance of your other HVAC systems, you need to be sure you are changing the air filter inside your home to help keep the air in your home clean. Replace the air filter every other month in your unit. Replacing the filter is a quick and simple maintenance task that can be done within minutes, and it can keep your system working properly for years.

Your air conditioning system needs to be maintained properly in order to keep it running efficiently. Hire an HVAC service company to do the maintenance work on your air conditioning system for you to ensure it is done properly.

For more information, contact an air conditioning maintenance service.