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Home A/C Tune Up?

Gonolz

HR Legend
Aug 6, 2002
22,750
14,181
113
I have seen a lot of commercials for AC company specials on a "tune up", which they recommend doing annually. They advertise it for $50-$80. It basically sounds like they just check your system for something wrong.

I have never done any maintenance other than changing the air filter unless the AC isn't working right. I did have an AC problem recently and had a blower fan that needed replacing and they had to add some refrigerant. Would annual ture ups prevent bigger problems? I have been assuming that a tune up is just an excuse for these companies to "find" something wrong that costs you a lot more and is more profitable for them. Like when I had recall work done on my car at the dealership and recommended $800 worth of maintenance items, most of which I know were unnecessary (like changing the transmission fluid at 30K when the manufacturer recommends it at 120K, an alignment every 15K even though my alignment was fine, and tire rotation every 5K).
Does anyone do regular A/C maintenance tune ups and what is the benefit?
 
I have seen a lot of commercials for AC company specials on a "tune up", which they recommend doing annually. They advertise it for $50-$80. It basically sounds like they just check your system for something wrong.

I have never done any maintenance other than changing the air filter unless the AC isn't working right. I did have an AC problem recently and had a blower fan that needed replacing and they had to add some refrigerant. Would annual ture ups prevent bigger problems? I have been assuming that a tune up is just an excuse for these companies to "find" something wrong that costs you a lot more and is more profitable for them. Like when I had recall work done on my car at the dealership and recommended $800 worth of maintenance items, most of which I know were unnecessary (like changing the transmission fluid at 30K when the manufacturer recommends it at 120K, an alignment every 15K even though my alignment was fine, and tire rotation every 5K).
Does anyone do regular A/C maintenance tune ups and what is the benefit?
Yes, they check the levels, clean off the coil check for current issues. Also check the drain lines. If you need those cleared that’s extra. Cleaning the coils improves efficiency and helps prevent pitting.
 
Yes, they check the levels, clean off the coil check for current issues. Also check the drain lines. If you need those cleared that’s extra. Cleaning the coils improves efficiency and helps prevent pitting.

If that includes cleaning the evaporator coil (which my unit is in the attic with limited access), then I can see that being valuable. I forgot to mention that my own maintenance does include hooking up a wet shopvac to suck out the gunk from the drain line once a year and I have hosed off the outdoor condenser coil a couple times when it looked dirty.

From a google of pitting, it seems that can cause some pinhole leaks, which could be why my refrigerant was low. Maybe I'll look more into what exactly is included.
 
They're trying to drum up business when the weather isn't hot (which means they don't have anyone calling to complain their A/C isn't working).
 
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If you find a good business, they’ll just check the ac and let you know if it will perform fine over that summer. for e.g if fan motor or capacitor might conk, you get a headsup. Worth the 75 in my book. However, if you pick a shop like i once did by asking my local homedepot to lookup their list of ac guys, you might get a bozo that quickly tries to get you to buy a brand new ac. nearly 15 years later, that ac’s still chugging along fine (though i will be replacing it shortly).
 
The ones I have got are t$150-175 a year and they include coming out twice to check everything in spring/fall. They clean coils, check for leaks, change system filters, test flux capacitor, etc. But another huge benefit of these service agreements is they usually come with a promise they will therefore also put you as a high priority on a service call and even repair on weekends for no extra cost, something that is worth it since we all know the AC goes out at around 3:45 PM on a Friday.
 
If that includes cleaning the evaporator coil (which my unit is in the attic with limited access), then I can see that being valuable. I forgot to mention that my own maintenance does include hooking up a wet shopvac to suck out the gunk from the drain line once a year and I have hosed off the outdoor condenser coil a couple times when it looked dirty.

From a google of pitting, it seems that can cause some pinhole leaks, which could be why my refrigerant was low. Maybe I'll look more into what exactly is included.
You need to hose the outside coil from the inside out. Disconnect the power and take the top off. (That’s what she said).
 
I usually start with a little Thunderstruck for my Acca Dacca tuneup.



Then I move right into If You Want Blood You’ve Got It

 
Usually, after purchasing the device, the main question arises - how to set the air conditioner for cold. It is a competitive setting, and correctly set temperature parameters of the system will provide the most practical work of the device. To understand the device's settings, you should know what modes are available for the device. Most air conditioners support the primary mode - cold, more modern models can produce heating of rooms. Usually, people use the air conditioner to cool the room. According to the instructions, they switch the mode with the remote control. And if they don't manage to change a mode or air conditioner breaks, they turn to specialists.
 
$100/year gets me 1 AC tune up in the spring, and 1 furnace tune up in the fall. Doing this also puts me into a customer appreciation plan where they take off the emergency charge if they need to make a call on nights/weekends/holidays. My HVAC will need replaced in the next few years, so this will at least help me out if something happens before then.
 
I have seen a lot of commercials for AC company specials on a "tune up", which they recommend doing annually. They advertise it for $50-$80. It basically sounds like they just check your system for something wrong.

I have never done any maintenance other than changing the air filter unless the AC isn't working right. I did have an AC problem recently and had a blower fan that needed replacing and they had to add some refrigerant. Would annual ture ups prevent bigger problems? I have been assuming that a tune up is just an excuse for these companies to "find" something wrong that costs you a lot more and is more profitable for them. Like when I had recall work done on my car at the dealership and recommended $800 worth of maintenance items, most of which I know were unnecessary (like changing the transmission fluid at 30K when the manufacturer recommends it at 120K, an alignment every 15K even though my alignment was fine, and tire rotation every 5K).
Does anyone do regular A/C maintenance tune ups and what is the benefit?
Do you have your car inspected before a long road trip, or yearly ?? same, same.
 
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