Minimizing The Risk Of Water Damage When Your A/C Is Running Around The Clock

One of the side benefits of running your air conditioner (A/C) during the summer is the humidity that your HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) system removes from your home’s indoor air. But unless you maintain your system annually, your home could experience water damage if your air conditioner isn’t draining quite right. Before the intense heat and humidity start, it’s a good idea to inspect your system to ensure that it’s draining properly.

Here are a few steps that you can take to minimize your risk of water damage when your A/C is running:

• Have a professional HVAC technician inspect your system early in the season. Besides inspecting, cleaning and tuning your system, your technician also will check your A/C drainpipe and drain pan to look for blockages. Algae, leaves and dirt can clog the drainpipe. Additionally, your technician also can treat your system with an algaecide to slow algae growth during the long cooling season in Arkansas.
• Ask your HVAC technician to install a safety float switch. This sits in your drain pain, and when it detects too much moisture, it turns off your A/C. This helps prevent water damage.
• Change your air handler’s filter regularly, and clean or change it when it gets dirty. A dirty filter restricts air flow, which can cause the evaporator coil that it houses to freeze. In our humid climate, frost can build rapidly and when it thaws, it can overwhelm the drain pan and pipe, causing water damage in your home.
• Keep all vegetation away from the outdoor compressor. Anything that obstructs the free flow of air around the compressor slows the cooling process, which can cause the indoor air handler to run continuously and cause the evaporator coil to frost over. Make sure that all of your household members know not to obstruct the compressor by laying anything on top of it.

Checking your system annually prevents many of the causes of water damage in your home. For more information, contact the professionals at Paschal Heat, Air, Geothermal & Generators. Ask about joining our Paschal Energy Savings Club, to ensure that your system receives annual maintenance. We’ve proudly provided services for Northwestern Arkansas residents for more than 40 years.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about water damage prevention and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Paschal Heating, Air & Geothermal services Northwest Arkansas. Visit our website to see our special offers and get started today!