Life today is fast paced and hectic, and many homeowners wind up letting certain issues slide in order to deal with what they consider to be more pressing priorities. If your air conditioner were to break down entirely or start blowing warm air, you would probably act pretty fast in order to resolve that problem. Wouldn’t it be better to nip any such problems in the bud, though? To resolve the source issues before they can cause such major disruptions?

We certainly think so, which is one of the reasons why we so strongly urge homeowners to schedule routine air conditioning maintenance in Miami, FL. Only when your system is expertly tuned up and working at peak performance levels can you hope for it to cool your home as successfully and efficiently as possible. Professional air conditioning maintenance covers a lot of ground — which is why it is best left to professionals — but one of the most important parts of the process is simply ensuring that your AC coils are clean.

What Do the AC Coils Do?

In order to understand just how detrimental dirty air conditioning coils are to the overall condition and operation of an AC system, you first must understand what it is that these coils do. It is a very important job. The coils basically facilitate the transfer of heat in the air conditioning system. There are 2 sets of coils to be concerned with.

The evaporator coil is the coil that is found in your indoor air conditioning unit. This coil is the point in which refrigerant cycling through the system evaporates. In doing so, that refrigerant is able to absorb heat from the air passing over the coil, so that the cooled air can be distributed throughout the living space. This is obviously an integral step in the cooling process. So what happens to that heat?

The refrigerant continues on its cycle to the outdoor condenser unit, where the condenser coil is found. As the refrigerant in the system is condensed — hence the name of the coil — its heat is shed. The fins on the outside of the condenser unit help to disperse the heat into the air surrounding the unit.

Why Dirty Coils Are So Problematic

Cleaning your AC coils is probably not something that made the cut for your spring cleaning list. However, it is a vital step in protecting the cooling performance of your AC, and the system’s condition as well. The major issue with dirty coils is that the dirt and debris inhibit the heat transfer process. This is the whole function of those coils, so it’s a bit problem.

If your indoor evaporator coil is very dirty, then it won’t be able to remove heat from the air in your home very successfully. The coil can get too cold, causing condensation on it to freeze up. That layer of ice only creates another insulating barrier, exacerbating the problem further.

A dirty condenser coil makes it hard for the refrigerant to disperse the heat that is removed from your home. You don’t want your system to work harder than it should have to just to complete this step of the cooling process. If either of these coils is too dirty, you’ll probably notice that the system’s cooling output is dropping, even as your energy costs rise. Eventually, compressor damage could result from the strain.

Contact One Hour Air Conditioning & Heating® of Miami for great air conditioning maintenance services.