HVAC Maintenance Tips After A Hurricane
Conducting HVAC maintenance after a hurricane is very important if you want to prolong its life. A hurricane is one of the strongest force of nature that we can encounter. It can wreak havoc wherever to passes. It brings with it strong winds, flooding, storm surges, and a lot of destructive forces.
Usually, people are more concerned about the outside of their home after a hurricane. You clean up the debris, replace or return anything that became detached from the main structure of the house, etc. Most of the time, people forget to check their HVAC systems. Obviously, this is a mistake. You still have a part of your HVAC system located outside your home. The circuit of the outdoor unit might have been damaged because of the strong winds brought about by the hurricane. Not only that, the air flow may now be filled with dirt and debris. It is also possible that the unit itself was pushed out of its location. If the unit was exposed to too much water, it might cause long-term problems.
Obviously, you should have prepared the HVAC unit before the hurricane arrived. One of the things you should have done is to turn off the system. Not only that, the outside unit should have been covered and secured properly so it does not move and the cover does not fly off. But even if you have gone through these steps, you still have to go through these HVAC maintenance tips.
Do not turn it on.
After the hurricane has passed, do not turn it on immediately. Make sure you inspect it first for damages on the outside. There might be some debris lodged into it. When you turn on the unit and there is still debris, it might compromise and damage the unit further. This is why it is best to check it first before turning it on.
Make sure there is no flooding.
Since the hurricane brings heavy rainfall, there is a high chance that water was able to seep into the outside unit. You need to check this first before you can turn it on. If your place was in danger of a storm surge, the salt water might cause the unit to rust. Make sure you take steps to counter this chemical reaction.
Clear out the tubes.
There is a high chance that your tubes will have some bacteria in it – especially from flood waters. The flood brings with it a lot of dirty waters so you may as well clean out the tubes. Otherwise, it will compromise the quality of air that goes inside your home.
Check the flow of air.
Measure the flow of air in your unit. If it was not the same as before, you need to adjust it so the HVAC unit functions well.
Fix or replace broken sensors.
The storm can also destroy the sensors in your HVAC unit. This can affect the performance of the unit by increasing the power consumption. You might want to fix or replace these with new ones.
Take note that there are some HVAC maintenance procedures that you can do on your own. There are also those that have to be checked by a professional. Do not delay in going through these checkups to ensure that your HVAC unit will still be working properly even after the hurricane.
