Get Your AC Ready Before the First 95° Day in Denver

Denver’s first real heat usually lands in mid-June, and the week it does is our busiest of the summer. Do these in May and you’ll skip the line.

Ten-minute jobs

1. Replace the filter. A clogged filter is the number one cause of a frozen coil in July.
2. Clear the outdoor unit. Two feet of clearance on every side. Pull the cottonwood fluff, leaves, and grass clippings off the fins. Hose it down gently from the inside out with the power off.
3. Check the drain line. Find the PVC line near the indoor unit. Pour a cup of white vinegar down it to kill the algae that clogs it every August.
4. Run it for 15 minutes. On a mild day, set it to Cool and make sure air comes out cold and the outdoor fan spins. Listen for buzzing or grinding.
5. Look at the copper lines. The insulation on the larger line should be intact. Sun-rotted insulation costs you capacity all summer.

Call-somebody jobs

6. Book the AC tune-up. We clean the coils properly, test the capacitor and contactor (the two parts heat kills), check the refrigerant charge, and flush the drain. It’s $99, and it’s when we catch the capacitor that’s reading 20% low so it doesn’t strand you in a heat wave.
7. Ask about a smart thermostat. Pre-cooling in the morning and easing off at 5 p.m. is the cheapest way to lower an Xcel summer bill, and the rebate often covers most of it.

The one that matters most

Number six. Capacitors and fan motors fail on the hottest days because that’s when they work hardest. A tune-up in May finds the weak one for $99. A failure on the Fourth of July finds it for a lot more, and after a wait.