I don’t know why I assumed that I could handle the yearly maintenance of my air conditioner myself.
I’m not particularly handy, and I know absolutely nothing about the inner workings of a cooling system. I strictly wanted to save some money. It had been quite a few years since I’d had the air conditioner serviced. I knew that there was a significant buildup of dust and other contaminants inside. The musty smell coming from the vents and considerable amount of particulate getting circulated whenever the system started up had me worried. I did some research and every article strongly recommended calling for proactive maintenance. When I watched some how-to videos, the process didn’t seem all that difficult. I needed to go buy a few tools, and then I got started. It was a bit discouraging when I had trouble just removing the outer cabinet. All of the screws were rusted and very difficult to loosen. When I finally accessed the equipment, I was shocked by the amount of contamination. There was mold growth on the coil and algae flourishing in the condensate drain. The belts showed signs of wear and tear and there was tons of dust, lint, grime and everything was wet and smelly. The debris was not easy to remove. Although I tried to be gentle, I bent the fan blades. I spent several hours working on it and realized I needed professional help. When I initially called an HVAC contractor, he wanted me to wait a week for an appointment. I then explained that the air conditioner was currently in pieces. Fortunately, they agreed to send a technician to the house within the next several hours. He was not happy with all the damage I had caused.