In this podcast, John Maher talks with Jesse Corso, comfort consultant at N.E.T.R., about how homeowners can prepare their central air conditioning systems for summer. Jesse shares practical tips for scheduling maintenance, replacing filters, and checking components like thermostats and outdoor units. He explains the importance of professional tune-ups, signs of AC trouble, and ways to improve energy efficiency—like maintaining realistic temperature settings and keeping coils clean. The conversation also covers when it’s time to replace older units and why many homeowners are switching to centralized heat pump systems for both cooling and heating.
John Maher: Hi. I’m John Maher. I’m here today with Jesse Corso, comfort consultant with N.E.T.R., a heating and cooling company in Massachusetts with a focus on ductless heating and cooling products, as well as central air and heating systems.
Welcome, Jesse.
Jesse Corso: Hi, John. How are you? Thanks for having me.
What Steps Should Homeowners Take to Ensure Their Central Air Conditioner is Ready for Summer?
Maher: Yeah, absolutely.
Jesse, what are the most important steps that homeowners should take to ensure that their central air conditioning system is ready for the summer?
Corso: Well, that’s a good question. So coming out of kind of winter hibernation here, so I guess what I would say is not necessarily get an AC tune-up early, but I would say schedule your AC tune-up early, right?
Maher: Mm-hmm.
Corso: So, make sure you’re scheduling one annual AC maintenance, preferably in the springtime where temperatures are not so cold that you can’t run the air conditioner. So, it’d be nice if we could run the AC while we’re there doing the tune up and kind of test it out. If it’s 32 degrees outside, you’re not going to want to do that.
So, schedule that annual AC tune up first and foremost. If you’re a customer that likes to change your own air filter, always do that in the springtime before you fire up the AC, change the air filter.
A couple other things, people like to sometimes cover their outside unit, outside condenser, so keep it protected from snow in the winter and whatnot. Make sure that’s uncovered. You don’t want to start your AC with a piece of plywood over the top or have the thing wrapped in a tarp or something like that. Uncover that.
There’s a disconnect switch outside by the condenser. Sometimes people shut that off. You got to turn that on.
Thermostats. A lot of thermostats now are strictly battery powered, usually two double As, so change the batteries in your thermostat. All those things would really start you off on the right foot.
And first mild weather day we have, fire up the AC, make sure it’s … Just put your hand up to the register, make sure it’s blowing cold. If it was a 60-something degree day, you could probably, I’d feel pretty comfortable turning it on, seeing if it starts pumping any cold air out.
How Often do Central Air Units Need Maintenance?
Maher: And then how often should you do routine maintenance? You said at least once a year you should do it. And what are some of the things that are involved in doing that maintenance and what difference does it make in the overall performance of your central AC system?
Corso: Yeah, if you’re just using your central AC as an air conditioner, shutting it off in the wintertime, it’s only running in the summer. I’m a firm believer that you can get away with one maintenance, one annual maintenance in the spring before you really start using it. You may want to change your air filter more than that, maybe twice in a season.
But a couple of the things that we do as a service department when we do AC maintenance is, or probably the most important thing is cleaning the outside condenser coil. And what that’s going to do is keep the amp draw on your air conditioner as low as possible because the coil outside is going to be as clean as possible and low amp draw on an AC directly correlates to lower energy consumption or lower electric bills for the air conditioner. If it doesn’t have to work as hard, doesn’t use as much power, and you’ll see that reflected in your electric consumption.
A lot of homeowners don’t clean the outside condenser coil themselves. That’s usually something done by a service technician. To get it really clean, you would pop the top off the thing. There’s a little bit involved to really do it the right way. That’s a big maintenance checkbox for air conditioning.
Other than that, we would change your filter if you’re not somebody that’s comfortable changing your filter. So, we could do that. Blow out your drain line, make sure that it’s not clogged with dirt and bugs and debris so you’re not going to have any water leaks in the summer when the AC starts removing moisture, all things like that.
Is Covering Your Central AC Unit In The Winter Smart?
Maher: You mentioned in the winter people sometimes will cover their central AC condenser with either some sort of a fabric cover or put a wooden box over it or something like that. Do you recommend that in the winter to make sure that it doesn’t get leaves from the fall and snow in the winter and things like that into your condenser unit?
Corso: Yeah, I mean, I don’t know if I’m a big believer of the grill cover, the tarp over the condenser. I think that kind of creates a nice little home for rodents and mice to live over the winter. But if your condenser is kind of placed somewhere outside where it might get hit with a lot of snow or ice falling off your roof, I am a believer in maybe putting a piece of three-quarter inch plywood, just resting it right over the top of the unit to just protect against direct hits from ice and snow.
Maher: Right. That makes sense.
Corso: That I could get behind. But wrapping it up in the winter I don’t think is extremely, is very necessary. Obviously whatever you do, do make sure you reverse it before you go to turn your AC on in the spring.
Warning Signs of AC Problems
Maher: Right. Are there any warning signs that homeowners should be watching for that might indicate that their AC needs repair or a professional tune-up either before the hot weather hits or even midsummer when it’s cranking?
Corso: Yeah, I mean a warning sign that you might see when it gets extremely hot is above average electric bills. If you’re noticing that you’re spending way more money than maybe you did the same month the following year, that might be related to your AC struggling a little bit.
If you notice that, hey, I’m setting my thermostat to 74 degrees and it’s really only ever getting to 76 degrees, that’s probably an indication that your AC is struggling a little bit and could use some maintenance. And maybe you’re noticing outside that the unit is, man’s turning on and off a lot, a lot, a lot, turning on and off multiple times in a minute or two minutes, then you might want to have somebody come check that out. It’d be called short cycling. So those might be some indications that your AC needs a tune-up.
What can Homeowners do to Improve Efficiency on AC Units?
Maher: Is there anything that a homeowner can do to improve efficiency and lower energy costs while they’re using their central AC during the summer months?
Corso: Again, if you’re a homeowner that changes the filter, great. Change it more often than not. I would definitely recommend that. And what I would say is try not to keep it a meat locker in there. Try not to go to 68, 66 degrees set point for your AC.
If your AC is able to remove moisture from the air and maintain a decently long run cycle and remove a decent amount of humidity from the air inside the house, you might find that a set point in the low 70s is comfortable for you instead of instantly going over and putting it to maybe 68 degrees.
So, I would say try to have an attainable set point and let that AC remove moisture more than drop the temperature in the space. And you might find that you’re more comfortable and your AC doesn’t have to work quite as hard.
What Should Your AC Unit Be Set To?
Maher: Right. You’re going to lower those energy bills because you’re not forcing the AC to make it go from those last four to five degrees, from 73 down to 68 is really when your AC is struggling to get it down to that temperature. So by not having to go all the way down to 68, you’re going to save some money on your energy bills.
And like you said, as long as it’s dry in your house and not humid, 72, 73 can feel perfectly fine, especially if you’re in your shorts and a t-shirt like you might be in the summer.
Corso: Exactly.
Maher: So that should be attainable.
Corso: Exactly. Believe it or not, the required indoor air conditioning design temperature is actually 75 degrees.
Maher: Oh wow.
Corso: Air Conditioning Contractors Association is just assuming that it’s a dryer 75 degrees, so it’s comfortable. Where you run into problems is oversized air conditioners that are able to get to a 66 degree set point, but they’re so badly oversized that they’re not running long enough to take the moisture out of the air. So you need that cold clammy temperature to feel comfortable. But if you just had a higher set point and a smaller AC that ran longer, it got rid of more moisture and kept it at 75 that it’s designed for or like that we’re supposed to be designing for, you’ll find that you’re equally as comfortable, if not more comfortable.
Maher: Right. The dry air makes more difference even than the cold air.
Corso: Mm-hmm.
Maher: Yeah.
When Should I Replace an Older Central Air System?
When does it make sense to consider upgrading or replacing an older central AC system and what factors would influence that decision to get it replaced?
Corso: Operating cost is a big one. 15, 20-year-old ACs, they’re going to consume a lot more energy than what we can get you into nowadays. SEER-wise, Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratings, stuff like that has all increased drastically over the last 15, 20 years. So operating costs would be a good reason to upgrade your system.
Maybe if it’s 15 to 20 years old, you have a major breakdown and you need an expensive repair that’s going to cost not hundreds but thousands, it’s probably not worth sinking that kind of money into an older system. So, you could think about replacement at that point.
Other popular replacement reasons lately would be upgrading from maybe a central air system to a centralized heat pump system where now you’re getting better AC performance than you had before ’cause it’s a newer unit and you’re also getting some supplemental heating in the wintertime that you didn’t have with your previous air conditioner and you’re offsetting whatever your other heating source might be. That’s become a very popular reason for upgrade.
Maher: All right, that’s all really great information, Jesse. Thanks again for speaking with me today.
Corso: Thanks John. Thanks for having me.
Maher: And for more information, you can visit the N.E.T.R. website at netrinc.com or call 781-933-NETR. That’s 781-933-6387.
