How to keep your HVAC running smooth this summer? Tips from a Top Pro

Maintenance costs can add up and no maintenance can cause system failures which are even more expensive to deal with. Check our all-inclusive OneRate pricing that saves you money and keeps your property in good shape.

Summer is coming which means its time to tune up your HVAC unit to start with. Our sales manager Brian Cooper, talks to Bryan Jr of ICE, Las Vegas, our top HVAC service pro. In this video interview ,they discuss how on time maintenance can save you energy costs and keep you cool this summer! Here are a few best practices that were discussed.

Brian From Home365: If you talk to a homeowner that you meet on the street and they ask how often should I get my HVAC maintained? What are your thoughts on some misconceptions that homeowners have about their HVAC?

Bryan Jr From Ice Heating: Yes, so manufacturers will recommend you to get it done twice a year. We’d like you to do it every six months because then we can really run the air conditioning long enough to fine tune it. And we can do the same thing with the heater. If we were trying to do a heating maintenance right now it will be really uncomfortable to the homeowner. And if you try to do a cooling tune up in the winter time we don’t get the proper readings that we need. So it’s best to spread out every six months and get it done right before the season or sometimes during the season. But it’s really important to get your units clean. You get at least 15 percent better efficiency with your units clean running just like the manufacturer designed.

Brian From Home365: Some homeowners don’t understand or realize that over time that Freon charge can run low. They don’t know that the coils need to be cleaned. How to tackle such misconception?

Bryan Jr Ice Heating: With Freon every connection that’s made on the unit is a potential place for it to leak out. Most of the leaks are very minor and it will take years for it to be completely out. But if you don’t stay on top of it then you can lose control very quickly. And if your system is running empty then that could be a disaster and your system will literally burn itself out. Maintenance prevents much bigger repairs from happening. If the HVAC has dirty coils, or has a lot of dust on the outdoor unit, that’s going to block airflow and your unit is going to work 10 times harder to heat and cool the same space putting a lot of wear and tear on the equipment. And your power bill will keep going higher and higher.

Brian From Home365: Are there any misconceptions about having know proper care with Hvac units?

Bryan Jr Ice Heating: Well I think the biggest misconception is that “You don’t need maintenance”, I don’t get surprised anymore as I hear it a lot of times when I go to fix a problem. I ask the homeowner when was the last time you had this system serviced and they say “It never broke so we never called anybody”. Now that’s a big source of the problem right there, because a unit can last you seven years or it could last to 20-25 years. It really depends on how it’s maintained.

Brian From Home365: So don’t ignore those tune up specials that you see, get them done especially early this season!

Bryan Jr Ice Heating: yes in a few days especially when it gets really hot then service calls have longer wait times, you’re waiting for days on end. Not to mention if your system breaks down the middle of the summer ,its even worse. I can’t tell you how many referral clients we get just because other companies can’t handle the load. We hear tons of complaints from customers that they couldn’t get service for three or four days! We work 24X7, so we’re always we’re always on there on the spot.

Brian From Home365: How often should you recharge the HVAC Freon?

Bryan Jr Ice Heating: Well ideally if everything goes according to plan you shouldn’t really ever have to because it’s supposed to be a sealed system. And a good installation will get you there. The problem is along the years you know things could happen like landscaping, kids, walls, remodeling, if you hang something on the wall or you put a TV you start messing with the pipes. So it should always be checked every year. We maintain a log of what we put in, everything in the computer and then that way we can compare it and be able to monitor. If its slowly losing Freon, so you need to recharge it and do a leak search because that’s escaping somewhere.

Brian From Home365: How many different types of Freon are out on the market?

Bryan Jr Ice Heating : Well there are actually a lot more than that. There is R-22 which is most commonly known as Freon. Now Freon, chlorine is one of the present chemicals. EPA is trying to phase it out because when released in the air it messes with the ozone layer. So now they are using Puron (R-410A) which is environment friendly.

Brian From Home365: These days splits have become popular, what’s your take on those?

Bryan Jr Ice Heating: I love them They’re really good. You can cool a room very efficiently. They are all at variable speed so it means they don’t work as hard as they can all the time. You can get a system in there that’s gonna cool a room down or heat, and then it will maintain the temperatures in there very comfortably and they’re very quiet and they they’re very efficient.

Brian From Home365: Thanks for letting me do the interview with you in your van. I think that’s really cool actually!

Bryan Jr Ice Heating: Absolutely.

Brian From Home365: Thanks. Junior I’ll let you get back to it. Thanks again. Thank you. All right. You take care.