How to keep that air conditioner working during Montreal’s extreme heat

We’re only weeks into summer and we’ve had some serious heat already, including this weekend.

High temperatures mean air conditioners are working overtime and experts have tips to keep it working.

Under a blazing noon sun, Samuel Girard is working on top of the roof at a school on l’Acadie Boulevard. As a technician with Guaranteed Industries, he’s sweating so others don’t.

To keep your cool during the summer, he advises to take care of your air conditioner by cleaning your outdoor unit’s air intake.

“To clean the back of the unit because in the summertime, it’s the pollen season and the unit outside is sucking the air, the ambient air, and it will cover the condenser coil,” Girard explained.

He says all you need is a simple garden hose — not a pressure washer — to rinse away any build-up of airborne bits “from top to bottom.”

But he cautions to never spray water into the fan blades that blows the air. “Never put water straight to the blower. Don’t do it at all. We don’t want to diminish balancing of the blower,” he said.

Indoor units also need their filter cleaned every two months. The unit can be opened and the filters can be removed, washed and replaced. If you don’t have the manual to know how to do this, Girard says the information is often available online.

With clean filters, the next step is to watch out for any error code on your unit’s display and check for water accumulation. A blocked drain can be blown clean with compressed air, because if not “it will become a block of ice. The unit is going to stop and it’s going to leak on the ground.”

At that point, you might want to call a technician if the problem can’t be fixed. He also says that neglecting the unit can lead to your warranty being void.

“If the compressor is gone because of lack of maintenance, we’re going to be able to see that it burned for a certain reason and you can lose the warranty,” he said.

Finally, he recommends not overworking the air conditioner on a hot day to avoid any problems.