How can an air conditioning specialist help me?
South Africa is a country of fairly wide temperature extremes, and it naturally follows that we take appropriate steps to cope with these varied conditions, both in our residential and business lives. We can do this through either cooling our environments during the hot summer months, or warming them during winter. Although there are different methods of warming our environments in winter by using a variety of heaters or fires, the best way to cool our internal environments down in extremely hot, sticky weather is through the use of a split wall-mounted air conditioning unit. This is where we need to call on the services of an air conditioning specialist.
What do air conditioners actually do?
The main function of an air conditioner is to draw unwanted heat energy out of an internal environment and then replace this with cooler air. The refrigerant in the air conditioner absorbs heat from the inside and transfers this to the outside. The most common type of air conditioner in residential and business use is a split air conditioner, which consists of both an indoor and an outdoor unit. The outdoor unit is mounted on or near to the exterior wall of the room to be cooled, and houses the compressor, condenser coil an expansion coil or capillary tubing. The sleeker wall-mounted indoor unit houses the cooling coil, a long blower and an air filter. This type of air conditioning system has the distinct advantage of extremely quiet operation, as the compressor and fan which cool the condenser are housed in the outside unit. Another advantage is the fact that you can have more than one indoor unit connected to a single outdoor unit. You can, for instance, have four indoor units in various rooms serviced by two outdoor units situated in one area.
Scope of air conditioners
When people think of an air conditioner, they automatically think only of a refrigeration unit which quietly and efficiently cools the air in the surrounding area. Air conditioners are, however, also used in winter to warm the environment through their inbuilt heating elements. They are a highly efficient and effective means of keeping the internal temperature at a comfortable level in which to work and live. They quietly cool or warm the air and, through inbuilt fans, circulate this air throughout the internal space they serve.
Air conditioners provide healthier air
Air conditioners, especially in office environments, have the added advantage, through filters, of purifiying the circulating air to some extent and killing certain air-borne bacteria and germs.
This is particularly useful during the winter months when colds and flu germs are rampant, as well as during the spring and summer periods when allergens such as pollens cause major discomfort, especially to asthma sufferers. In highly populated cities, air conditioners serve the purpose of filtering out many external pollutants in the air, providing a much healthier indoor environment. Air conditioners do not, however, cleanse the air of all pathogens, and should not be depended upon to fulfil this role.
Getting the right product for your needs
Air conditioning units come in various sizes, designs and offer a variety of options for use. An air conditioning specialist will advise on the correct size of unit for the area you wish it to cover, thereby saving you the cost of paying for a unit which is too powerful for a small area, or installing a unit which is too small to cope with the size of the room it is servicing.
Installation, maintenance and repair
Air conditioning specialists offer a range of services, from initial guidance and advice on choosing the right unit for your purposes, installation thereof and regular maintenance and repair when things inevitably go wrong. Since air conditioners have both refrigeration and heating elements, the technicians have a wide knowledge of specialised areas such as checking refrigerant gas pressure and re-gassing the unit if required, cleaning the internal and external coils to ensure maximum efficiency and indoor drainage cleaning.
How to find the right air conditioning specialist
Check their online ratings and customer reviews
Air conditioning installation, maintenance and repair specialists may often be found these days by searching the internet specifically for air conditioning contractors or checking through appliance installers and particularly refrigeration contractors. Search sites such as Uptasker will assist greatly as this site lists specialists nationally as well as according to specific geographical areas. Of particular use is the online rating and customer review sector of this site, from which you will be able to obtain information on overall satisfaction with service delivery, pricing, advice given and range of appliances offered. You will also be able to request quotes from different contractors in your geographical area for price comparisons. These specialists can also be found easily through advertisements in home magazines, home catalogues, industrial catalogues, newspapers, flyers, home expos and the Yellow Pages. If possible, use word of mouth referrals from people you know and trust.
