Your air conditioning system is broken down into 3 distinct parts.  Each of which can substantially affect the efficiency of the entirety of the system.  First, is the ductwork, which is not the glamorous part of the system and is often over, looked!  Second is the air handler and is responsible for the airflow and can affect the air quality of the house.  Finally, the major part outside component is the condenser.

 Your air handler is very simple to take care of.  It has a coil referred to as an evaporator coil and all the air from your home passes through it for cooling or heating.  Keeping the coil clean is of the utmost importance.  Proper filters and changing them regularly will generally do the trick.  If you air handler is in the attic or a garage special attention should be made to eliminating any unconditioned air leaking into the system.  This can introduce unwanted mold and mildew into your system.  A check-up can catch these problems. 

 Your condenser is the outside component and is responsible for cycling the refrigerant through out your system.  During the summer the condenser disperses the heat collected from your home.  It is critical that the outside coil stays clean so the heat can be removed effectively.  If your coil is not kept clean a couple of problems will occur.  First the system will become less and less effective resulting in higher electric bills and your home may not cool during peak times of the day.  If this wasn’t bad enough a dirty condenser coil is the most common reason for compressor failure. 

 Finally, the ductwork can be the single biggest cause of loss of or inability to attain your systems potential.  Think of a marathon runner showing up at a race.  He has trained for years to accomplish this.  He gets ready to start the race and a close pin is placed on his nose.  He may finish the race but he will struggle the entire time.  This is the same for your system.  Not replacing sagging restricted ductwork will cost you money comfort and system longevity.  Where not talking about leaks, we’re talking about the airflow being restricted and creating a higher static pressure.  Simply put the air conditioner is pushing air through out the supplies.  Restrictions essentially make it much harder to do this.  This disrupts the flow of air and the efficiency.  The return air is equally important.  Your high efficiency system needs 1.5 cubic feet of air entering it for every ton of cooling.  Most times this is not the case and your system is starved for air.  If your filters are collapsing after you install them or you hear a air whooshing sound you made need to have this checked.  All of these items are easily fixed and are truly cost effective to have repaired.