Home A/C Gurus... Need Advice on Preventive Maintenance Before Summer

Title pretty much says it. With summertime fast approaching I was hoping to pick the brains of you guys with much more knowledge of home Air Conditioning units then I have.

I know 2 things about home A/C

1: It keeps me cool when it gets hot outside

2: I like it!


Our house is 7 years old and we have a Lennox unit. The house is 2300 sq ft with 15' ceilings. Our lowest ceiling is 12' (don't know if that makes any difference or not). We have no shade for our house since we are in a neighborhood. The house faces South with the A/C unit on the East so it only gets full sun until just a little after noon each day. I change the filter every month and I keep the fins on the unit outside clean. It seems that every other year we have a capacitor go out either in the blower motor in the attic or the unit outside. Other than that we have had no problems with it. But now that it is getting a little "older" is there something that I should be doing that I'm not already doing? Should I get a maintenance plan with a local A/C company or would I just be wasting my money?

Any advice would be appreciated.

BTW... The last 2 summers have had temps in the 110*-115* range which is unusual for here but I suppose it is getting more common.

 

I am not a guru but I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

Seriously, I think the biggest thing is to keep everything clean so the system doesn't have to overwork assuming it was properly sized from the get go. I try to stay on a yearly maintenance schedule. Also since efficiency is a big key to keeping everything running properly, check and make sure all duct work is sealed with no leaks and is properly insulated and installed correctly.