Prepping for Fall: Keeping Your AC Unit Free of Leaves, Ice and Other Debris

We’re heading into one of the most beautiful times of the year with fall foliage exploding and all the colors of fall are on full display. In just a few weeks, the color explosion will be gone and with it comes all those once beautiful leaves hitting the ground. Weekend warriors will be out in full force raking and bagging leaves or using lawn equipment of all sorts to blow or mow leaves from their yard.

Lots of times, leaf piles end up around outside air conditioning units causing the necessary air flow into the unit to be dramatically reduced or even cut off entirely. It’s bad enough when the leaves are dry, but when the leaves get wet from rain or other water drainage, it compounds the situation even more.

Here are five suggestions for keeping your outside AC unit free from leaves, ice and other debris as we head into the fall and winter season:

1. Never blow leaves, grass or other yard debris directly into or onto your outside AC unit.
2. Do not rake or blow leaves into a pile near or around your outside AC unit.
3. Always keep the area surrounding and in close proximity to your outside unit clean with no overgrown weeds or grass.
4. Make sure your outside unit is sitting on a flat surface and not making contact with the earth. That means either sitting on a flat concrete or asphalt surface such as a driveway or a concrete pad. If those two surfaces are not available, then your unit should be resting on bricks or some other base in order to give it proper ventilation and to avoid water and other elements seeping into the unit from underneath. With freezing temperatures coming in a few weeks, you do not want your unit sitting on the ground and risk it freezing to the ground. There are also electrical grounding concerns with a unit sitting on the ground which could be dangerous.
5. If your unit is sitting on a slope, it is important that it be level and that drainage from the unit be able to run away from the unit and down the slope. Your unit should also be elevated so that any ground water running down the slope runs around the unit and not into the unit.

Bunn’s & Bennett Heating & Air Conditioning

If you would like us to come by and check your system’s overall operating condition, give us a call at 256-536-0967.  Bunn’s and Bennett is a certified, factory trained, full service HVAC Company located in Huntsville, AL. We have been serving the HVAC needs of the Tennessee Valley for more than 30 years.