Enjoy the full potential of your YORK® product, and extend its useful life with these helpful maintenance tips. Although mechanical heating and cooling equipment is complex, here are some basic preventive maintenance procedures you can perform to keep your system running at its best. (If your air conditioner or heat pump is more than 10 years old or your furnace is more than 12 years old, call your YORK® Contractor to see how much you can reduce your utility bills with today’s more energy-efficient equipment.) Indoor Air Quality Equipment Maintenance Follow manufacturer’s instructions for changing (or cleaning) air filters in air handlers/furnaces and other home comfort equipment. Some air cleaners require only an annual filter change, while others need more frequent replacement. Maintaining proper humidity levels can greatly reduce airborne allergens. Make sure pans and coils of the humidification/dehumidification unit are clean and free of debris. Regularly clean your return grills to prevent dust and debris from accumulating in ducts and clogging filters.

Examine ducts around the air handler for holes, loose tape or separated sections that might allow air infiltration. Make sure the air system is balanced to avoid negative air pressure from pulling pollens and allergens into your home. Consider using a dedicated ventilation system to introduce filtered outside air to create positive pressure with clean air. Examine ducts around the air handler for holes, loose tape or separated sections that might leak air. Replace your air handler filter once a month to reduce airflow restrictions and wasted energy. Air Conditioner Maintenance/Heat Pump Maintenance Clean dust or move objects away from the grates that supply air into each room. Do the same to the large return grate, usually in a hallway, to ensure proper air flow. Clear leaves and debris from the system’s outdoor condenser unit grille. If the interior unit is dirty, contact your contractor to perform a power wash that will not bend the fins of the grille.

Examine ducts in attic or crawl space for holes, loose tape or separated sections that might leak air.friedrich ac unit manual Trim shrubbery to allow at least two feet of clearance from the unit.floor model air conditioners costco Set the thermostat mode to cooling (and heating for heat pumps) to make sure it’s working. lg mini split ac error codesContact your contractor for service if you hear any unusual noises. Make sure the condensate line is clear to allow liquid runoff. Set up an annual checkup of your system. Confirm that the furnace runs completely through a normal cycle from startup to shutdown. Look at the thermostat reading to confirm that the system shuts off when reaching the high temperature setpoint.

(If otherwise, you have a short cycling problem requiring a service call.) Clean dust or move objects away from the grates that supply air into each room and the large return grate, usually in a hallway, to ensure proper air flow Make sure obstacles are cleared away from the furnace and the safety switch on the furnace door. Check the vent connections in the exhaust pipe and chimney for rust or gaps. Make sure your CO2 monitor is operating properly and that it has fresh batteries. Replace furnace filters annually.Thanks to Mother Nature and power grid glitches, American households in Connecticut, San Diego, and many parts in between have been without power for extended periods of time in recent weeks. Now, in the wake of cell phones that can’t be recharged, night after night lit only by flashlight, and obscene amounts of spoiled food, plenty of people are asking: Is it time to buy a backup generator? And how does one figure out which generator to buy? The purchase is fairly complicated, with questions about appliance wattages and a laundry list of jargony terms like “half load” for the generators themselves.

Generators are also potentially dangerous. With the most common type of generator sold (portable), there’s a risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. These units typically run on gasoline, so the general rule of thumb is to place it about 10 feet away from the home. You’ll also need a safe place to store gasoline—because in a blackout, gas stations may not be accessible or operational. For solid overviews and advice on generators, check out trusty buying guides from Consumer Reports and Popular Mechanics. Big-box home improvement centers Home Depot and Lowes and manufacturers such as Briggs & Stratton also offer primers on which generator is a good match for your needs. One of the first steps is estimating how much power you’ll want during a blackout. Consumer Reports and a number of the sources linked above list approximate wattages used by various home appliances. A fridge is 600 or 700 watts, while a standard electric light is probably under 100 watts, and a well pump may be 1,000 watts.

You probably know this based on your electricity bill in the summer months, but air-conditioning units suck up tons of electricity: roughly 1,000 watts for a small A/C window unit, and upwards of 3,000 watts for a larger unit. (MORE: House Tours: Historical Walt Disney, Tammy Wynette, and Civil War Homes) Now, before calculating the electricity needs of every appliance in your home, think hard about which appliances you really need to get by during an emergency. The typical household will want the fridge to keep running (so food won’t spoil), and perhaps a few outlets for a couple of lights, maybe a TV and a computer, and most definitely for recharging cell phones. For most households, a mid-size portable unit (5,000 to 6,000 watts) such as the Troy-Bilt 5500 Running Watts Portable Generator (sold at Lowes) or the Stanley 5000 Watt (sold at Home Depot) should suffice. Both sell for about $800, and they’ll allow you to run a half-dozen appliances, including the fridge and either a small A/C unit or portable electric heater.

Bear in mind that you might not be able to buy one right now. When I stopped in at a Lowes over the weekend, there was only one portable generator left. The store was completely sold out of transfer panels as well. Which brings up the issue: What the heck is a transfer panel, a.k.a. transfer switch? Again, CR does a good job explaining that one: A transfer switch allows you to plug a portable generator directly into your breaker box, so that the generator can power whichever breakers you want in the home when the normal power source goes off. Without a transfer panel (from about $500), you’ll need a bunch of extension cords to run from the generator to the appliances you want to keep operational. (MORE: 5 Things to Know to Protect Your House Against Flooding) In addition to portable generators, consumers have another option: the stationary generator. Compared to gas-powered portable generators, stationary units are less of a hassle: They usually run on propane or natural gas, come with transfer panels, and may even kick on automatically when the power grid goes off.