Wednesday 27 August 2014

Tips to Protect Your Air Conditioner during Hurricane

Natural disasters like cloudburst or hurricane doesn’t strike with prior notice. However, when it does, often the severity is such that it leaves many households in shambles.  Mostly electronic gadgets like home air conditioners take the maximum blow. Even after the effect of hurricane subsides, you may find the cooling unit in an unstable condition.  So, how to protect the air conditioning system from a thunderstorm’s catastrophic effect?

Take Precautionary Measures before the Storm Strikes

Start taking preventive steps before the hurricane season sets in. If you are aware of the approximate time when the storm is going to strike, then prior to that, turn on the air conditioner. Adjust the setting such that the indoor temperature turns several degrees cooler than normal level. Such a pre-cooling helps keep the home temperature comfortable for longer hours, even if power failure happens accidentally.

Should you operate the cooling unit during the hurricane?

The answer is a big No. Strictly make sure that the air conditioning unit is switched off as the cyclone strikes.  In many areas, the power supply gets interrupted during heavy storm or downpour. If the air conditioner is running at that time, it might suffer severe damage because of erratic power failures. As and when natural disaster strikes, irregular power interruptions put additional pressure on the compressor and other components of the cooling unit. Thus, you might end up changing the entire unit or some of its crucial components, once the stormy season is over.

What you should do after the tropical storm passes?

It is suggested that you turn on the cooling unit, as early as possible. Some delay might happen because of power problems, still try to operate once the power condition returns to normalcy. Keeping the unit idle for too long, means you are inviting mold to grow in the unit’s ducts and system. Your home as well as the air conditioning system has just now gone through an extreme heat and high moisture weather mayhem. This provides perfect setting for mold to thrive.

At the same time, be careful if you suspect something amiss with the central air’s operation. In case, you feel the storm’s severity has damaged an inside part of the cooling system then trying to run would make the situation even worse. Detection or evidence of any electrical smoke should be taken seriously. In such a scenario, get it immediately checked by any skilled HVAC professional.

Prepare your Air Conditioner to Ward off Storm Effect

One thing to be kept in mind is that it is not always a hurricane which harms your cooling system. Sometimes heavy wind and rain play havoc too, damaging the air conditioning unit. So after any such natural disaster, you should consider a thorough checkup of the cooling system with special stress on duct cleaning.

No matter how devastating the hurricane looks, by following these simple tips you can efficiently protect the air conditioner throughout the stormy season.

Tuesday 12 August 2014

How to Make your Window Air Conditioner Burglar-proof?

With mercury rising incessantly inside skyscraper cells, air conditioner units have become an indispensable part of modern city life. A window air conditioning unit provides efficient cooling in little time. Of course being an electronic device, the risk related to a sudden break down always remains for which certain precautionary measures can be taken.

Apart from technical snags, something even worse can happen to the cooling unit. Your window air conditioner might become an easy burglary target! Homeowners, therefore have to be little more careful and adopt extra precautionary measures to make their air cooling systems burglar-proof.

External Brackets

Get a high quality external bracket for your air conditioning unit as soon as possible. These brackets provide additional support to the cooling unit while securing it well with the window. This in turn serves two purposes. Firstly, it becomes very difficult to move the air conditioner. Secondly, no one can easily break into your house by pushing the device inwards.

Corner Braces

Function wise, corner braces are almost similar to external brackets. You can still install braces to enhance security arrangement. When corner braces are attached to all four sides of the air conditioner, these help secure the device properly. Then these braces protect the surrounding wall area too thereby preventing the device from being pulled out or pushed in.

Window Locks

To prevent burglars from tampering with window frames of the sliding window you need to install high quality window locks. There are two varieties available in the market, i.e., screwed and bolted. Both types are equally effective. The lock can be used to secure frames from both sides as well as up and down. Position the locks strategically. For maximum efficiency, place them along the line where the window meets the wall.

Vent Flaps

Typically an air conditioning device is smaller in size than the window. Therefore the free area outlining the cooling machine becomes an easy target for burglars. So to make sure no one takes advantage of this free space, you can install metal or plastic vent flaps. Secure the vents tightly so that no tampering can be done.

Sensor Alarms

To prevent any burglary attempt, install miniature high sensor alarm devices. These alarms can be positioned right on top of the AC so that any attempt to move it even by smallest proportions gets detected immediately. Make sure the alarm works properly and sets off in time.

A high-pitched alarm system is preferred since this will alert you even if you are in another room. Further the high-pitch sound alerts your neighbors too in case you are not at home. Most importantly the alarm sound scares the burglar away.

In case you can’t install an alarm system, try to fake it! Attach symbols denoting an alarm system on your air conditioning unit irrespective of whether you actually have it installed or not. Sounds funny? The strategy does work in such emergencies.

Last but not the least; you can always talk to any air conditioner expert to know how to render maximum protection to your window air conditioning unit.