To cover or not to cover
Your air conditioner of course!
Winter is slowly but surely on its way. Here in Utah we see an average of about 56.2 inches of snow in Salt Lake City (per snow season), which makes it seem like an obvious answer. Of course you cover the air conditioner . . . . but wait a minute . . maybe you don’t need to.
Air conditioners are made to be outside. They get rained on in the summer and snowed on in the winter. Many units get wet when the sprinklers come on or when a service technician washes the exterior coil. Your outdoor unit has drain holes to drain out any water that may accumulate inside. So air conditioners are perfectly okay sitting outside through the winter months.
Preparing for the winter
But since we go through such extreme seasons in Utah, many of us winterize everything from our car to patio furniture to sprinkler systems. Preparing for winter is a lot of work, but the time we put into winterizing is to prevent wear and tear and to keep things looking nice for as long as possible, and you can do the same for your air conditioner.
Covering your outdoor unit during the winter season is perfectly fine. The primary purpose of covering an air conditioner is to keep it looking nice. If you do cover it, we recommend a canvas cover. If moisture does get under the cover, canvas breathes which allows the moisture to dry vs. a plastic cover that would trap the moisture in and potentially cause unpainted surfaces to rust.
Protect your A/C
Since running an air conditioning unit with the cover on can cause damage we recommend to turn the electrical breaker off so the A/C is not turned on accidentally. If you have a heat pump, NEVER cover the outdoor unit since a Heat Pump runs both summer and winter.
Most of all, next spring be sure to remove the cover and turn the breaker back on and enjoy another summer of cool air.
If you are looking for an air conditioning cover this fall, give us a call this fall 801-262-4671.
