The Hidden Costs Of Delaying Heating And AC Repair Or Maintenance | Dallas, TX
An air conditioner or a furnace is, in most cases, a case of out-of-sight-out-of-mind. Homeowners adjust one control on their thermostat and immediately get conditioned air. Unless the furnace or the air conditioner is screaming (making loud noises) or doesn’t even turn on, homeowners probably do not spend much time thinking or paying attention to these critical appliances. Provided the furnace blows warm air and the air conditioner gives cool air, you will likely assume everything is fine. After all, if it isn’t broken, there’s no need for heating and AC repair, right? Wrong. An inspection of the appliance might yield different results. Hence, a regular heating and air conditioning service is essential.
Do you think maintenance costs aren’t worth it? Would you rather take chances that you wouldn’t experience the worst-case scenario? Do you have a habit of postponing maintenance and repairs, hoping the problem might go away, or because you can see that everything is working fine? This is the wrong way of approaching air conditioning service. Rather, you should speak to a heating and AC repair professional in Dallas, TX, and create a proactive routine maintenance plan. Being reactive to HVAC issues will end up causing more problems and costing you more. With a scheduled maintenance plan, you will be able to catch any developing small problems before they cost you a fortune.
For every dollar “saved” through deferring maintenance, there is a four-dollar increase in future costs. There also are indirect costs that could significantly impact your finances and the air conditioning system. This is why enlisting a professional for routine air conditioning services, timely heating, and AC repairs are essential. Over the service life of the heating and air conditioning system, the additional costs could be a total of fifteen times more than what you might have spent on the air conditioning service had you not deferred it. This article highlights five issues that could cost a fortune should you delay HVAC maintenance.
Costs of Postponing HVAC Service
Emergency HVAC Repairs
Whenever your heating and air conditioning unit component breaks, you might be forced to turn off the entire system for a heating and AC repair. This, in most cases, doesn’t happen at a convenient time. Like your vehicle that cannot break when idly sitting in your garage, the heating and air conditioning unit might malfunction at midnight, over the weekend, mid-summer, or even on holiday. Regular heating and AC repair companies are off business in all these scenarios. You will not see an issue with your HVAC unit
until it is too late unless it is inspected by a technician regularly. Hence, regular heating and air conditioning maintenance are essential in averting HVAC emergencies.
The heating and AC repair technicians arrive exactly on time for planned maintenance. You depend on their ability to respond when an emergency HVAC breakdown occurs. The next question is: Do the technicians have the replacement component? Is the component in stock? There always will be certain parts that need to be back-ordered, & the supply chain is currently experiencing a significant bottleneck. The inconvenience is another factor. You hate the heat when it’s so hot. Pipes could freeze at severely cold temperatures. When it’s 95 degrees, most individuals can survive. Nevertheless, it becomes perilous when it’s really cold.
You will be at the whims of the heating and AC repair professional should you hire them in the middle of an HVAC emergency. What is their rate of overtime? Are they the ideal company to handle the HVAC emergency? You probably won’t give your choice of company much thought in an emergency. How soon can heating and air conditioning repair technicians get to your Dallas, TX, home? This should be the first question to ask the heating and AC repair technician if you had sourced for them earlier.
Unfortunately, you might not even be able to ask them that in the middle of an emergency. Your HVAC system can run more effectively if it gets proper maintenance. For instance, if you don’t change your filter, the machine HVAC unit will get too hot, reducing the heat exchanger’s lifespan. The labor cost associated with the emergency heating and AC repairs might be higher than the maintenance costs. Hence, always ensure that you have a technician come over for regular HVAC maintenance.
Reduced HVAC Service Life
The other cost you might incur when you postpone or delay HVAC maintenance is that you might have to replace the unit earlier than intended. This is because delaying the maintenance might make the unit see reduced service life. It isn’t uncommon to hear some homeowners say they have not done anything but replace the air filters in their HVAC systems for the last five or ten years. However, this isn’t the right way to approach HVAC maintenance, as it would result in a regular need for heating and AC repair.
The HVAC technicians have seen some cases where the heating and air conditioning units’ air ducts are full of dust and birds’ nests, reducing the efficiency of the entire unit. Additionally, the burners and blowers may be dirty, mechanical parts require lubrication, and even heat needs to be removed from the rotors. Further, there may be a bunch of lint on the furnace.
If the HVAC system is under such conditions, it must work harder to cool or warm your Dallas, TX, home. This not only results in increased cooling and heating costs but also could damage some components of the HVAC system, resulting in reduced service life and necessitating heating and AC repairs. The harder the furnace system works, the shorter its lifespan will be.
The same holds for air conditioners. A highly efficient furnace or air conditioner condensate drainage system must be cleaned and flushed if the coils are unclean. Otherwise, it will leak water or suffer other damage. An air conditioner will operate hotly if the condensing coil is not clean.
Routine HVAC maintenance and timely heating and AC repairs are essential and could add several years to your HVAC system. Eventually, this translates into dollar savings, meaning your bank account will not suffer a roll. Although machines break, the best thing that you can do is at least try to reduce or decrease the rate or number of failures.
Reduced Efficiency
A well-maintained, clean HVAC system will be highly efficient in cooling your home and use less energy. Therefore, the unit should have a clean condenser coil, evaporator coils, clean air ducts, and properly filled refrigerant. Having a small refrigerant leak isn’t unusual. However, this is something that a heating and AC repair technician could catch during the routine maintenance visit.
Efficiency can be reduced by five to ten percent if the refrigerant charge is off. Even though your system may be rated up to sixteen SEER, you are only using 10 SEER. SEER is the short form for Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio, and the higher the SEER rating, the higher the efficiency of the HVAC unit. If the efficiency of the HVAC system goes down, your heating and cooling energy and your utility expenses may go up. HVAC efficiency has a cascading impact. A reduction in airflow is also an impact of reduced HVAC efficiency.
Is your HVAC blower motor clean? How about the blower motor wheel? Are the HVAC filters clean? If the answer to these questions is no, it is time to have a heating and AC repair technician inspect and clean your unit. Poor or reduced airflow will affect the efficiency of your heating and air conditioning system resulting in cold spots, less filtered air, and uneven temperatures at your Dallas, TX, home. Poor airflow will reduce the efficiency of the unit and lead to static pressure issues.
Health and Safety Risks
A blue, clean flame on your HVAC system’s gas furnace usually produces some bits of carbon monoxide. If the furnace at your home is installed in your laundry room or closet, the furnace burners will likely get clogged with hair, lint, and dust. As the gas/air mixture changes, the carbon monoxide expelled levels in the furnace considerably rise. Your furnace could have a cracked exchanger, a particularly dangerous state.
The carbon monoxide leaks from such could prove dangerous for you and other inhabitants of your Dallas, TX, home. This will prove costly heating and AC repair since the technician has to replace your furnace’s heat exchanger. However, this is considerably cheap compared to the alternative. Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless gas that could result in severe health complications and even death.
The HVAC blower motor will first feel the effects if the air filters are clogged. The blower motor will overheat and stop working correctly if it is covered in dirt. As a result, the blower’s speed will drop, reducing the airflow. Your heat exchanger may then become coated with dust, which lowers efficiency. After that, the dirt and dust will end up in your ducts, exposing you to them and subjecting you to allergies and inflammations. The ductwork will be filled with and blowing dirty air from a dirty furnace. To avoid the health complications caused by inhaling contaminated air, have a heating and AC repair technician inspect the HVAC unit and effect the necessary maintenance services.
The one-inch filters should be replaced every 30 days. Have you installed pleated air filters in your HVAC system? heating and AC repair professionals recommend that you replace them every three months. These filters aren’t great at catching dust like the HEPA filters or those having higher MERV ratings. If you have a plugged-up condensate on your highly efficient furnace, the condensate water might get pretty nasty, forming an ideal breeding ground for bacteria.
A heating and AC repair technician will inspect the condensate drains to ensure they are in a perfect state and the condensate can flow outside. The air conditioning system will also have a buildup of mildew, pathogens, germs, and mold. They will then be distributed to your indoor space, resulting in various health issues. This is something that routine maintenance by a reliable heating AC repair technician can help you avert.
Collateral Damage
All the elements of your HVAC system work together to ensure that your Dallas, TX, home is sufficiently cooled or heated. If any of the components are out of shape, all the other components become less efficient and work harder. A single defective part of your HVAC system could result in a total breakdown. This is why routine HVAC maintenance by experienced heating and AC repair technicians is critical.
In addition to having to pay to fix the broken component, homeowners may also be required to pay to fix other components that have gotten damaged. For instance, a blocked furnace filter affects the heat exchanger’s temperature rise. The temperature difference between the heated air supply from the furnace and the return air is known as air temperature rise. The temperature rise must stay within the parameters of the furnace’s rating plate.
The flame sensor begins to behave erratically when it becomes dirty. The flames begin to burn, but they quickly go out. As a result, your furnace will operate more quickly, providing less heat and airflow while also wearing down more quickly. The evaporator coil in the indoor condensing unit absorbs the heat from the air blowing over it as the coolant evaporates inside it. The coil may freeze if the filter is clogged, restricting warm airflow.
Avoid Such Costs with Routing HVAC Maintenance
Delaying HVAC maintenance will only hurt your finances, not in one but several ways. Hence, you should enlist a heating and AC repair company for a routine maintenance service. For HVAC maintenance in Dallas, TX, contact us at One Hour Air Conditioning & Heating of Dallas. The last thing you want is to have an HVAC emergency, get sick, or even pay more in heating and cooling energy utility bills because you didn’t have a maintenance plan.