After about 12 years experience in the HVAC area I may not be able to firmly say that I’ve seen everything, but yes, I have been able to see a lot. I’ve been little pained to charge a house owner for the minor repairs which could have easily been avoided with a small amount of regular maintenance by them. Many of these repairs also include the system failure which can sometime result in the large damage to the property.

Here I am providing a small system component list which can be easily checked and also cleaned with the help of some normal hand tools by an average house owner. I’ve also mentioned the consequences which could occur if these few things are not regularly checked by some person not necessarily the house owner.

The return air filters

This is one of the most known parts of the central air conditioning system to a house owner, just next to the thermostat. Cartridge type return air filter is very common and usually sits into a return grille making use of the wall on which the thermostat is fixed. These are available in various sizes and are easily available in the home improvement centers or some hardware stores. The quality of the filter determines the price. You must make it a point to check these filters once every month and if you have some fur bearing pets, then you should check it more frequently.

The second most used filters are the electronic filters. The ionization technology is used by these filters to clean the air. They are placed near to the air handler. They are more efficient filters but they too need to be serviced regularly to help them maintain their efficiency.

These filters usually are fitted with the reusable parts which can easily be changed and can be reinstalled by the house owners. Some components are even dishwasher safe to clean them easily. You must follow the instructions of manufacturer’s instruction for their care and maintenance.

If these filters are not kept clean it can result in the problem of frozen filter. In this after freezing the evaporator will eventually thaw. Due to this the drain system for condensate will overwhelm making it to overflow, which can damage the furniture, sheet rock, etc.