Prepare your home air for the summer heat wave

SALT LAKE CITY — Without the proper maintenance, the summer heat could put some undue strain on your air conditioning, especially as triple digits come in.

If you’re starting on that now, experts say you’re already behind the curve, but it’s not too late to get some maintenance done on your HVAC.

“We recommend getting a tune-up about once a year, and what that does is just kind of give you an assessment of where your system is at,” said Bryan Tello, an HVAC tuneup technician.

Tello said the yearly maintenance can save you from an unexpected breakdown.

“Just like any car you’re out, you drive this thing every day,” he said.

But if you can’t hire someone to come and inspect your AC, he said you can check your own air filters and change them once a month. A clogged one can slow the airflow.

“What ends up happening is you don’t get good airflow to your system, and if you’ve ever heard of your air conditioner freezing, that’s essentially what’s happening,” Tello said.

Technicians like Tello check the radiator outside too. A lot of homeowners schedule this kind of work months in advance, people like Deanne Rudd.

“I’ve just learned that it’s easier to do preventative before than have a big expensive bill once something breaks,” Rudd said.

Tello said if you’re comfortable with switching things off for a bit, you can hose down the radiator, too, from inside and out. But with their expertise, you can get a much more thorough system inspection to keep you cool.

“And at the end of the day, if you want to be comfortable, that’s going to be the better route to take,” Tello said.

He said if you don’t have AC, you’ll want to make some plans to stay cool as the heat goes up even more.

Swamp coolers can bring temperatures down around 10 degrees, but they can lose their effectiveness significantly when it’s above 90 degrees.