Air Lock Mechanical

Information may not be reliable

All maintenance and service work should be performed by a professional air conditioning and heating company that holds the appropriate credentials to install and service air conditioning and heating equipment.
Outdoor Unit/Air Conditioner or Heat Pump Preventive Maintenance Checklist

Inspect coil and cabinet - clean as needed
Inspect fan motor and fan blades for wear and damage - on older models lubricate as needed
Inspect control box, associated controls/accessories, wiring and connections. Controls may include contactors, relays, circuit boards, capacitors, sump heat and other accessories. All control box and electrical parts should be checked for wear or damage.
Inspect compressor and associated tubing for damage

Inspect heat exchanger or heating elements
Inspect flue system - Check for proper attachment to the furnace, any dislocated sections, and for signs of corrosion. Replace if necessary.
Inspect control box, associated controls, wiring and connections

Measure high and low side system pressures
Monitor gas furnace for correct line and manifold gas pressure - make adjustments as needed
Measure temperature rise and adjust airflow as needed

WHY IS SERVICE / PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE SO NECESSARY FOR HEATING AND AIR CONDITIONING EQUIPMENT?
Preventive maintenance or service is essential to the proper functioning of air conditioning and heating equipment. If preventive maintenance is not preformed regularly or if it is done haphazardly, the equipment will require extensive and costly repairs at a later date. "It is a case of "pay me now or pay considerably more, later," and lose reliability while paying higher energy cost in the process.
Preventive maintance programs of air conditioning and heating equipment include regular inspections each year. During these inspections, proper operation of the equipment is checked and verified. All mechanical equipment is designed to operate within certin limits. air conditioning and heating equipment is no exception, and if not properly maintained, the equipment will exceed its design limitations with the result being equipment failure. Your best insurance against HVAC failure and cost containment is preventive maintenance.

PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE CHECKLIST & HVAC PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE
Why must we service & replace air conditioning filters? Air conditioning equipment is designed to operate with a specific quanity of air passing over its indoor coil surface. When air filters are not replaced, they clog and become coated with dirt. Similarly, the indoor coils get coated with dirt. This dirt reduces the amount of air through the unit below the design limit, leading to catastrophic failure.
In the cooling mode, if there is not enough air over the indoor coil, the coil tempature drops. When it drops below the freezing point, ice forms on the coil, which further reduces the airflow, which further reduces the coil tempature. The compressor within the unitis a pump, which is designed to pump a vapor. As the airflow through through the indoor coils drops, there isn't enough heat being removed from the air passing over the coil to vaporize the liquid refrigerant inside the coil. Thus, instead of receiving a vapor, the compressor receives liquid refrigerant. this is called "Liguid Slugging". The effect of "liquid Slugging" is similar to the effect of pouring liquid into the cylinders of a gas engine. As liquids are not compressible, cylinder pressure exceeds the design limits, of the cylinder, and the valves, connecting rods, pistons, or other internal components are destroyed. The air conditioning unit starts out requiring that its filters be replaced. Now it needs a new compressor. Preventive maintenance or a new compressor? Ultimately, its your choice.
In the heating mode, low airflow causes the heat exchanger to overheat. Heat exchangers are designed to operate at tempatures between 102F and 200F. At higher tempatures, the heat exchangers oxidizes, its life-span is reduced, or it cracks and breaks. In either case, It makes far more sence to replace air filters regulary than to replace a heat exchanger costing far more.

WHY WE MUST REPLACE DRIVE BELTS? (USUALLY COMMERCIAL)
Loose or broken drive belts cause the same problemsthat dirty filters cause. They cause the airflow through the equipment to be reduced below design limits. In addition, loose drive belts slip on the pulleys. This wears the groove in the pulley so that when the belt is replaced, the new belt is ruined in a shorter period of timeby the worn pulleys. Once again during preventive maintenance we replace the $15.00 belt on a reqular basis or spend much more replacing pulleys.

WHY MUST WE CLEAN CONDENSER COILS?
Air conditioning equipment is designed to operate between certain outdoor tempature limits. Cooling and condensing of the refrigerant vapour is designed to occur with a particular volume of air flowing through the condenser at a maximum outdoor ambient tempature. (Usually 115F) If the finned surfaces of the outdoor coils are fouled with dirt, the ability of these coils to transfer heat is reduced and the airflow through the condenser coil is reduced (blocked by dirt and dust) When the ability to transfer heat is reduced, the operating tempatures and pressuresof the air conditioning unit increase. A unit, designed to operate at ambient tempatures of 115F or more, may stop operating at an outdoor tempature of 90F. Due to the reduced heat transfer capability, the operating tempatures and pressures within the unit exceed the manufactures safe limitand the unit shuts down. If the unit does not exceed the manufacturer's limits by enough to shut down, it will continue to run at reduced capacity and efficiency, and at an increased rate of wear and energy consumption due to the increased work load. A strong reason for preventive maintenance reducing wear, costs and catastrophic failure.

WHY INSPECT AIR CONDITIONING RELAYS AND CONTRACTORS?
Electrical relays are designed to open and close a certain number of times with a particular current load, before the contact points are damaged and relay requires replacement. If more than the design current is passed through this relay due to a motor working too hard, or low voltage conditions, the contact points overheat and become damaged. If the electrical contacts in a contactor (large relay) begin to get pitted, and the contactor is not replaced, eventually the air conditioners compressor motor or the fan motor controlled by the contactor will burn up and require replacement. Once again, if we exceed the design limitations of the device, or its anticipated life span, additional damage is caused. Cheap to replace a relay or contactor during a preventive maintenance when compared with a motor or compressor repacement.

WHY MUST WE LUBRICATE BEARINGS AND ROTATING COMPONENTS?
Bearings and other rotating parts are designed to have a useful life span of hundreds of thousands of hours, provided they are lubricated at appropriate intervals and are not overloaded due to vibration from defective frive belts or dirty blower wheels. If bearings are not lubricated regulary, they will overheat and eventually seize. When this occurs the bearings fall apart, and the blower wheel, shaft and housing are destroyed. This is a prime example of a situation where inexpensive preventive maintence was neglected with catastrophic results.

WHY MUST WE CHECK THE AIR CONDITIONERS REFRIGERANT CHARGE ON A REGULAR BASIS?
A unit operating with an insufficient refrigerant charge can ruin its compressor via two scenarios. The unit icing up due to a low-pressure condition causes the compressor to fail due to liquid slugging, as described before. The second type of failure is due to the fact that the compressor requires a certain quanity of cool refrigiant vapour to cool its motor windings. If the refrigant charge is not sufficient, the motor within the compressor will overheat and burn up. A preventive maintenance program would spot this conditionand save you money.
The scenarios described all causes damage to occur slowly over time, usually without being noticed until catastrophic failure has occured. Regulary scheduled service / preventive maintenance on any HVAC or heating and air conditioning system lowers overall air conditioning and heating service costs. It reduces emergancy calls due to catastrophic failures, it results in lower energy costs and lower replacement costs. It reduces repair costs.