It’s a brand new year and a new year always calls for change. You can change your diet, change your views, or even change your hair color, but why not make a change that will really matter?

Replace your Air Filters:

This should be done every one to six months or so. Replacing your filters regularly helps your system last longer. Buildup overtime forces the HVAC to work harder just to meet its expected performance, so keep it clean.

Clean the Evaporator and Condesener Coils:

Considering that these coils interact with water often, they can get pretty damp and when you couple that with outside air, what do you get? That’s right, mold. Fortunately, the mold doesn’t build up at a rate that requires daily maintenance, or even weekly. In fact, if you cleaned your evaporator and condenser coils twice a year, they would be in pretty good shape.

Here’s a tip for you. Dirt will degrade the condenser coil quickly and since it has no effect on your indoor air quality, you can clean it at the same time to clean the evaporator coil. This improves efficiency overall.

Here’s another tip. Mold is really hard to remove. The best way to eliminate it to apply cleaners and antimicrobial treatments, just don’t use anything too strong. Damage will only make things worse.

Check the Fans, Bearings, and Belt:

This is also a twice a year process. Fan blades are incredibly hard to clean if they get too dirty, so be diligent.

Make sure the fan isn’t rotating in the opposite direction. It can actually be easy to overlook, considering that despite the rotation issue, the fan still supplies good flow. In order to prevent this, make sure that the fan house, pulleys, motor, and wires are clearly labeled.

When self-lubricating bearings fail, you must replace the bearing cassette. Excessive noise, vibrations, and heat are telltale signs of failure. Packaged units will occasionally come with greased ball bearings. They tend to be overgreased which is dangerous. An under greased ball bearing is equally as dangerous, so be wary of those.

Align the belts and make sure they retain proper tension. A belt that is too loose will wear out quickly and a belt that is too tight will pull on the motor and fan shaft bearings too much. This added pressure can cause premature failure.

Inspect the Area Around the Air Intake:

Water can pool in around the air-handlers and we already know that any damp area grows mold. Here’s the thing about this scenario.

If mold is near the air intake, mold spore could be sucked through the ventilation system and where does that end? You don’t have to guess; now there are mold spores in your house. So check the air intake twice a year.

Fix Leaks in the Cabinet and Supply Duct:

Perform an annual checkup by checking for air leaks, replacing screws or latches, and fixing or replacing gaskets. This is especially important on the supply-air side because that where high pressure is going to be. The high pressure can push air through cracks.

Clean and Adjust the Dampers:

Poorly functioning dampers are a common problem among HVAC units and the results are damaging to your indoor air quality.

If your dampers aren’t properly cleaned and lubricated they stick together and prevent the cooling potential or overload the cooling coils. The result depends on the temperature outside.

If temperatures are below 60 degrees F and the dampers stick, the compressor will start running which negatively affects the cooling potential. If it’s hot outside, the cooling coils will overload.

The best way to prevent this is to annually clean and lubricate every movable surface and then run the damper through the full range. Afterwards, check the set point.

Clean out the Air Ducts:

Biannually check them for dirt. If it’s there, get rid of it. That’s about as easy as it gets.

New Years Resolutions for Your Home