As many people already know, Arizona is a place where it reaches 100 degrees for almost half the year and that itself can leave your unit strained after just a decade. However, there are more issues you should consider when looking at the lifespan of your unit. During our cooler months going into winter, most homeowners will think this is when they can stop worrying about their air conditioner, but this should be the point you want to get your unit checked the most.
The Strain From the Summer
Arizona is known for its very hot days and cooler nights. This duality can have your unit working double time, cooling in the day and heating during the night. That strain of switching to both extremes throughout summer can leave you with a few issues during the fall such as leakage issues, drainage issues, and zombie pumps. That strain combined with our monsoon season can leave your unit in battered shape when coming up on those colder months. That’s why it’s important to routinely get a professional to assess the condition of your unit every 6 months.
The Inconsistent Weather of our Fall Months
In Arizona, we have very hot summer days and while we do have cooler months in the dead of winter, in fall we don’t just see a natural curve to this cooling. In the fall, you can easily see patterns where some days it’s 100 degrees and some days it can be 75 degrees. This isn’t beginning to mention how cold it will be around this time at night. All these changes put extra strain on your unit, making it work harder than it normally would in the summer when it’s over 100+ degrees every day. It causes the unit to switch between either heating or cooling more often and having to do that inconsistently over so much as a month or 2 can lead to system failure over its lifespan.
The Zombie Pump
When you have an A/C unit installed on your house, if it is within a decade or two old, more than likely it will use a heat pump to cool and heat your home. This part is used to extract heat from ambient air to then be used to heat your home. However, your system also can take heat from backup electric heaters for when it drops below 50 degrees. If these get damaged or if the heat pump does, you can end up having a very large electric bill from your unit working harder than it needs to and it can also lead to a breakdown. This is commonly referred to as a zombie pump and it can be quite a surprise when you have high electric bills or if your system fails. If you notice your utilities on the rise or suffer a system breakdown in the fall this could be a reason why.
Conclusion
The fall is no excuse to not expect a breakdown of your air conditioner. Breakdowns can mostly be prevented with routine maintenance every 6 months by a professional HVAC company like ourselves. If you have suffered an HVAC breakdown or need routine maintenance, give SMW Refrigeration & Heating, LLC a call, we have a trustworthy reputation and all of our technicians come highly trained and are professionals.