Air conditioners are deceptively self-sufficient. Sometimes you won’t get a very obvious sign that your system isn’t performing at peak efficiency. It might just be that you find you have to set the temperature on the thermostat a couple degrees lower than usual or an energy bill that might be a little high that tells you that your unit is having to work harder.
To avoid this happening, you should always have a professional inspect your AC unit before summer starts. John C. Flood are recognized Arlington, VA, Washington D.C. and Rockville, MD AC maintenance experts who can diagnose any AC problem immediately and help you fix it. If, however, you find these little hints are appearing with more and more frequency, you may want to take a quick look around for yourself.
One of the most common, silent energy wasters is torn insulation on the refrigerant lines. The lines that take the refrigerant between the evaporator and the condenser can end up costing your system efficiency if the insulation becomes stripped away. If the liquid starts evaporating in the line instead of the evaporator, then you’re basically just cooling the great outdoors.
You can fix this yourself, but you’d need to access a refrigerator supply store as the regular hardware stores tend not to carry the type of insulation foam you need. Before you order, measure the outside diameter of the pipe. Then you’ll need to measure the length of tube you want to insulate. Remove all the previous insulation and gently wrap the new foam around the larger line to ensure the length is right – the smaller line carries gaseous refrigerant of the house and doesn’t need to be insulated.
Once you’re sure of the fit, remove the adhesive liner and wrap the new insulation around the line, this time squeezing the adhesive ends together. Be very careful with this final step — once the ends stick you won’t be able to separate them.
