Keeping cooling bills low in Southwest Florida can be a challenge, but there are strategies you can take to improve energy efficiency and your home’s comfort. As part of semi-annual preventive maintenance, your HVAC technician should clean the evaporator coils of your air conditioner.

Although you don’t typically see them, evaporator coils are a very important part of your air conditioning system. Housed in the inside unit of your cooling system, they are instrumental in providing the cooling function of your equipment. This is how evaporator coils work:

• The outdoor condenser compresses Freon, or another refrigerant, and changes it from a gas into a very hot liquid.
• The liquid passes through the tubing in the evaporator coil while the blower recirculates the warmer air from your home through the fins.
• As the warm air passes over the cold evaporator coils, heat is extracted from the air and the liquid in the coils returns to a gaseous state.
• The cooled air is pumped into your home through the duct system.
• The refrigerant gas goes back to the outdoor compressor, and the process is repeated.

From this process, you can see that the evaporator coil is the part of your air conditioning system that actually cools the air. As air passes over the evaporator coils, dirt and dust can be deposited on the surfaces of the equipment. This dirt buildup will reduce efficiency, causing your air conditioner to work harder and your utility bills to increase.

Unlike the outdoor compressor unit, which you can periodically clean with a garden hose, the evaporator coil is more difficult to access and should be cleaned by a professional. If your contractor does not include cleaning the evaporator coil as part of regular maintenance, ask them to do it.

The trained technicians at Conditioned Air will keep your air conditioner operating efficiently all season long. Whether you need preventive maintenance, equipment repair, or are considering upgrading to a new heating and cooling system, we’re here to help. Contact us soon to ask for expert advice or to schedule an appointment.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about evaporator coil maintenance and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Conditioned Air services Southwest Florida including cities Marco Island, Ft. Myers or anywhere in between. Visit our website to see our special offers to get started today!

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