(STORY IMAGE:KHQ.COM)
SPOKANE, Wash. -Summer in Spokane means hot temperatures. That means it’s time to take the air conditioners out of their winter hibernation and put them to use.
"When it's time to turn on the air conditioner. It's really important that we check our furnace filters to make sure we have a clean filter," said heating and cooling specialist Jason Denman.
If you have not had your unit inspected, now is the time to have that annual maintenance done to your air conditioning unit. Homeowners can also make sure the area around the air conditioning unit is clear of any brush or debris that could disrupt the flow of air. A typical filter will last you about a month, but some can last as long as six months before being replaced.
Since air conditioners love to breathe and get as much airflow as they can, a dirty filter can impact the performance of the unit, making it work harder and at the same time have trouble cooling down the house. A dirty filter causes the unit to use more power which ends up costing you more money on your power bill
"With air conditioners, they freeze up. If they don't have enough airflow moving through them the tendency is for them to ice up and what that is is humidity build up on the indoor section, and then they'll start to freeze into a big block of ice, and now we are down without air conditioning for about four hours until that defrosts," added Denman.