Charlie McDermott:
Welcome to Comfort on Porpoise, sponsored by Dolphin Cooling & Heating, who have been providing 24/7 Comfort on Porpoise since 1998. Hey there, Charlie McDermott, producer of Comfort on Porpoise and once again, I’m here with Lauren. Lauren, how are you doing?
Lauren Willeford:
Good. How are you today, Charlie?
Charlie McDermott:
I’m great. I’m ready to kick back here and listen to how you’re going to make me comfortable in my home though. What do you have in store?
Lauren Willeford:
Yes, so we wanted to share today for everyone listening, just four simple at home tips, things that you can do as a homeowner, just to make sure that you kind of keep your AC and tiptop shape. Just like inside your home, if you have smoke detectors, you’d replace the batteries annually. So real, real simple things, nothing technical here today.
Charlie McDermott:
Love simple!
Lauren Willeford:
Yes, right? So the first thing obviously is filters. A lot of times we don’t necessarily think about this, but the air filter for your AC system, which is typically found either at the return, oftentimes if it’s a vertical unit in a mechanical closet, typically there’s like a filter rack underneath. So easy to get to, or it’ll be a return behind like a grill in a wall or a ceiling. So with this, you typically wanna replace your filters at least every three months.
For regular standard, one inch pleated filters or a hog’s hair filter, something that’s washable, which a hog’s hair would be a washable filter. In that case, you’d wash it off, let it dry out a little bit, and then you’d put it back in. With those, if you can replace them monthly, great. But at a minimum every three months. So that way you don’t end up with a plugged filter. Plugged filters will restrict your airflow so you won’t cool as efficiently. And we do actually sometimes get no cool calls because someone’s filter is so badly plugged because it hasn’t been touched in a long time.
So definitely change your filters at least every three months. And if you’re on a maintenance plan with us, a semi-annual one at the six month mark and year mark, we’ll change your filters during your maintenance as well. But between that, it’s good to do at least one filter change yourself.
The other thing is outside at the condensing unit. That condenser out there, it needs space around it in order to breathe. So a lot of times you’ll plant shrubs or things so that you don’t have to see it, because you don’t necessarily want to see it. But make sure you have 12 inches of clearance around the sides of your condensing unit. So if you’ve got any debris, anything growing in there, clean that out. So just clean around your condensing unit, that also helps with your airflow and cooling efficiency.
And then, like your smoke detectors, your thermostat. Change your thermostat batteries once a year. If you’re on a maintenance plan, we change them once a year for you. But always change those thermostat batteries. We have had, again, people call sometimes they say my thermostat’s blank, it’s not working. We go out and all it was was the batteries. So just check your batteries, replace those once a year.
Charlie McDermott:
And what happens when the battery dies? Does the system just stop working?
Lauren Willeford::
So the thermostat is wired and then it has battery backup power. So if the batteries totally die, then what happens is the thermostat will go blank. And you won’t be able to control it. There’ll be nothing there. So normally it’s just a blank thermostat. So a simple thing, you can pop it right off the wall. You’ll see the batteries in there. Usually they’re either AA or AAA. Typically they take about two of them. Change those out real quick and pop it back on. And if your thermostat still doesn’t come back on, then call us. There’s a bigger problem going on there.
And then the last thing, which is the peskiest no cool call of all. And we actually talked about this in our previous podcast when we spoke about drain guards is your drain line. Flush your drain line and you don’t actually need any special chemicals. Just using a gallon of hot water and pour it down your drain line. You can use a ShopVac on the drain line from the outside. Just make sure after you do that you flush another gallon of hot water through there. Don’t flush it, put the vacuum on it and then not add any more water because you may end up with an air bubble in your trap. So then it won’t drain properly.
Charlie McDermott:
Sounds like something you might wanna leave to a professional.
Lauren Willeford:
But just a gallon of hot water. If you flush that down there every three or six months, if you don’t have regular maintenance on your AC stem system. Obviously you hear me talk about that a lot. Maintenance is really the best thing that you can do. Then you know we’re going to come out, we’re going to go through and take care of all of these things for you. But that’s a real simple thing to try and help remove some of the algae that will build up in there. Unless you’ve got a drain guard and in that case, we come out and replace your cartridge for you every six months. And that helps keep your drain line clean.
So just a couple little things and then we have one other bonus tip.
Charlie McDermott:
Whoa!
Lauren Willeford:
Yep, just a little bonus that we’re going to throw in there today. For anyone who’s looking to maybe save a little bit of money on their electric bill. A little statistic we found out is that for every degree you set your thermostat below 78 degrees, your electricity costs increases by 8%. So if you can get comfortable with it and work to it over time, if you can leave your thermostat set at 78, you’ll actually get yourself a little bit of energy savings there as well.
Charlie McDermott:
Wow. And I’ve done that and it’s amazing how acclimated you become and what was too warm before can be actually kind of chilly.
Lauren Willeford:
At my house, we keep it set at 78 all the time. And you know, if you’re someone who right now you have it set at 73 or 75, what they say to do is increase it by one degree per month so that you kind of get acclimated to each temperature and then once you get to 78, it doesn’t feel like this major, oh my God, it’s so hot in here, I’m dying! So you will actually get acclimated and comfortable with it.
Charlie McDermott:
Love it, love it. Love these simple tips.
Lauren Willeford:
Simple tips. We’re getting into the holidays. Little things that you can do at home, because nobody wants an AC problem at holiday time when you have family in town and stuff going on.
Charlie McDermott:
Yes. Plus I mean extending the life of the unit. It’s almost like brushing your teeth with filters. I mean, you take care of your unit, your unit takes care of you.
Lauren Willeford:
Exactly. Exactly. So just a couple of simple things people can do at home for the longevity of their system. And so you remain comfortable and you don’t have to deal with any pesky, no cool calls.
Charlie McDermott:
Love it, love it. Well Lauren, thanks again for keeping our units in check and providing the comfort and yes, it needs to be on porpoise. You know, either getting you guys involved so that the filters get changed on a regular basis and the drainage gets flushed. Or set the reminder so we do it ourselves, but love it. Appreciate your time.
Lauren Willeford:
Thank you so much, Charlie. And we’ll be talking again soon, I’m sure.
Charlie McDermott:
Thanks for listening to Comfort on Porpoise. To learn more about our sponsor, Dolphin Cooling & Heating visit www.dolphincooling.com or call 239-596-9044. That’s 239-596-9044.