By Phoenix Delray

Hot summer months are quickly approaching for Oakland, and the time once again has come to check your air conditioning unit to make sure that it is functioning properly. It is hard to keep comfortable on the hottest days of the year, and when you have a cooling system that is not delivering the relief that it should be it can be incredibly frustrating. Your best bet is to check your system before those dog days of summer hit. However, if you find that your unit is not working properly after months of not being used, there are some things that you can check yourself before you rush to call a professional repair company that might end up costing you quite a bit of money.

First of all, you may just need to give your air conditioning unit a good cleaning. There is a right way and a wrong way to go about this, though, so be sure that you do it correctly. You can always go ahead and call an Oakland professional to clean your unit if you dont feel comfortable doing it yourself, though. Be sure that the power is totally shut off to the unit. You will usually find a shut off panel next to the outdoor unit on the outside of your house. It is always a good idea to also go to your circuit breaker box and shut off the power to the unit with the switch there, too. Once that is done, you should collect and remove any dirt, sticks, leaves, and debris that is around the outdoor unit that may be interfering with the air flow.

Your outdoor unit will have fins or blades and a protective grill over it; kind of like a protective cover or panel. Go ahead and remove any cover or panel. You can then use a soft brush to clean away the debris, dirt, and grime from the fins. You can also vacuum the debris off with a light brush attachment, but you should be careful that you do not damage the blades.

Be careful while you unscrew the grill off of your air conditioning unit. If the fan blades are attached to the grill panel, pay attention so that you do not pull any wires loose or snap any of them. Use protective plastic sheeting to protect motor components and wiring from getting wet. From the inside of your unit, use a hose and wash down the fins to clean them. Check with your owners manual to see if it gives you instructions on lubricating the motor. If you choose to lubricate the motor, this would be a good time. If you dont think it is necessary or you have no instruction about how to do it, skip the lubrication.

Once all of that has been done, you can put your air conditioning unit back together, and youll want to test it to see if cleaning it did the trick. Flip the power to the unit back on, and adjust your thermostat so that it will kick on. Hopefully it does turn on, and after a minute or two of running, feel the temperature of the air blowing into the house to make sure that it is cold. Also, go back outside and feel the two pipes that are connecting the house to that outdoor condenser unit. One should feel cool, and the other should feel warmer. If there is no distinct difference in the feel of those pipes, the refrigerant may need to be recharged, and youll have to call an Oakland professional air conditioning service company for that.

About The Author

To learn more about Oakland air conditioning, please visit http://www.a-1guaranteed.com/about_us.php.

By Phoenix Delray

Hot summer months are quickly approaching for Oakland, and the time once again has come to check your air conditioning unit to make sure that it is functioning properly. It is hard to keep comfortable on the hottest days of the year, and when you have a cooling system that is not delivering the relief that it should be it can be incredibly frustrating. Your best bet is to check your system before those dog days of summer hit. However, if you find that your unit is not working properly after months of not being used, there are some things that you can check yourself before you rush to call a professional repair company that might end up costing you quite a bit of money.

First of all, you may just need to give your air conditioning unit a good cleaning. There is a right way and a wrong way to go about this, though, so be sure that you do it correctly. You can always go ahead and call an Oakland professional to clean your unit if you dont feel comfortable doing it yourself, though. Be sure that the power is totally shut off to the unit. You will usually find a shut off panel next to the outdoor unit on the outside of your house. It is always a good idea to also go to your circuit breaker box and shut off the power to the unit with the switch there, too. Once that is done, you should collect and remove any dirt, sticks, leaves, and debris that is around the outdoor unit that may be interfering with the air flow.

Your outdoor unit will have fins or blades and a protective grill over it; kind of like a protective cover or panel. Go ahead and remove any cover or panel. You can then use a soft brush to clean away the debris, dirt, and grime from the fins. You can also vacuum the debris off with a light brush attachment, but you should be careful that you do not damage the blades.

Be careful while you unscrew the grill off of your air conditioning unit. If the fan blades are attached to the grill panel, pay attention so that you do not pull any wires loose or snap any of them. Use protective plastic sheeting to protect motor components and wiring from getting wet. From the inside of your unit, use a hose and wash down the fins to clean them. Check with your owners manual to see if it gives you instructions on lubricating the motor. If you choose to lubricate the motor, this would be a good time. If you dont think it is necessary or you have no instruction about how to do it, skip the lubrication.

Once all of that has been done, you can put your air conditioning unit back together, and youll want to test it to see if cleaning it did the trick. Flip the power to the unit back on, and adjust your thermostat so that it will kick on. Hopefully it does turn on, and after a minute or two of running, feel the temperature of the air blowing into the house to make sure that it is cold. Also, go back outside and feel the two pipes that are connecting the house to that outdoor condenser unit. One should feel cool, and the other should feel warmer. If there is no distinct difference in the feel of those pipes, the refrigerant may need to be recharged, and youll have to call an Oakland professional air conditioning service company for that.

About The Author

To learn more about Oakland air conditioning, please visit http://www.a-1guaranteed.com/about_us.php.