Maintenance

Owning, or even sometimes renting, a home in Dothan, AL, requires general maintenance to keep your investment in working order. It’s really all about being prepared. Per Benjamin Franklin, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Maintaining your home’s systems and appliances wards off emergency situations and costly repairs while extending your equipment’s life. Take the time and money to perform general maintenance on a regular basis. Many of the maintenance services require the knowledge, skills, and tools of a professional. During the maintenance or service call, our technician will make any necessary repairs and/or alert you of a possible situation. Call Southeastern Cooling to assist you in maintaining any of the following or to answer any questions you may have:

Furnace Maintenance

We highly recommend an annual service tune-up and cleaning for your furnace. Typically the optimum time of year to perform the maintenance is the fall, before you fire up your furnace for the cold weather. The purpose of the service tune-up is to keep your system running at top efficiency throughout the season, so you have heat whenever you need it. Our experienced technician will clean and check all the connections, controls, sensors, drains, motors, ducts, valves, and blowers, as well as your ignition assembly, thermostat(s), and smoke and carbon-monoxide detectors. Following your tune-up, our technician will instruct you on anything you could do yourself as maintenance between our service visits. One absolute action you can take is to change your furnace filter with the correct replacement every three months, or as needed. This goes a long way in extending the life of your furnace, as well as keeping your furnace repairs to a minimum and your indoor air quality high.

Air Conditioner Maintenance

For air conditioners, an annual service tune-up and cleaning is recommended, usually performed in the spring. Our professional technician will check and clean the connections, coils, blower components, lines, refrigerant, drain, fuses, and thermostat(s), as well as lubricate all working parts. Maintenance you can do yourself between service visits is to remove any yard debris or vegetation from the top and sides of your outdoor air conditioner unit, as well as to keep it covered with an air conditioner cover or tarp in the winter.

Heat Pump Maintenance

For heat pumps, an annual service tune-up and cleaning is recommended, usually performed in the fall, same as furnaces and boilers. Our professional technician will check and clean ducts, filters, blower, indoor coil, ducts, refrigerant, electric terminals, connections, motors, and belts, as well as lubricate all working parts. Be sure to change or clean the filter every three months or as needed. You can also clean the outdoor coils whenever they seem dirty, and keep yard debris and vegetation away from the unit.

Whole-House Humidifier Maintenance

For whole-house humidifiers, an annual service tune-up and cleaning is recommended, usually performed at the same time as your furnace tune-up and cleaning. Our professionals include this maintenance along with the furnace appointment. Typically there isn’t much in the way of maintenance; however, our technician will change your humidifier pad and clean any mineral buildup you may have (in the case of hard water). Ask our technician to show you how to dissolve the buildup on your own every few months to keep your humidifier working at top efficiency.

Air-Filtration System Maintenance

For air-filtration systems, regular maintenance is something your can perform on your own. Maintenance on an air-filtration system usually just means changing or cleaning the filter every three to nine months. But you should check with the manufacturer’s specific recommendations. Changing or cleaning your filter on a regular basis will ensure the best filtration for your home as well as extend the life of the system. If you need any assistance or would like to install an air-filtration system, feel free to talk with one of our professionals at Southeastern Cooling.

Water Heater Maintenance

For water heaters, an annual inspection and service is recommended, usually included in your annual plumbing inspection (any required service would be separate). Either have one of our professional plumbers perform the required maintenance, especially if you’re uncomfortable doing it yourself, or do it yourself. To keep your water heater running efficiently, you want to check the pressure valve, check the anode rod, flush the tank (due to sediment buildup), adjust the temperature (if needed), and insulate the pipes and tank (if needed). Once again, one of our professional plumbers can easily do this service for you to help in extending the life of your water heater.

Whole-House Generator Maintenance

For generators, different aspects of the generator require monthly, biannual, or annual inspection and service, but service is typically contingent on engine hours and/or time periods used. The more hours your unit is used, the more frequently it should be serviced. Our certified professionals are happy to perform these services for you. When inspected and serviced properly, your generator could conceivably last 20 to 30 years.

Monthly it’s recommended for you to visually inspect your unit, clean the unit in a general sense, and check the oil and coolant levels and battery charger.

Biannually it’s recommended to have our professional technician inspect and service your generator’s enclosure, belts, cables, connections, oil, hoses, exhaust system, muffler, battery and accessories, air clean units, piping, wiring, control panel, and accessories.

Annually it’s recommended to have our professional technician inspect and service oil (change), filters (change), spark plugs, coolant, crankcase breather, cooling system, and for diesel-fueled units only, fuel (test) and reconditioning.