{"id":1077,"date":"2017-12-12T11:00:41","date_gmt":"2017-12-12T16:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.oasiscooling.com\/blog\/?p=1077"},"modified":"2020-09-15T12:55:11","modified_gmt":"2020-09-15T16:55:11","slug":"how-to-prepare-your-ac-for-the-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oasiscooling.com\/blog\/how-to-prepare-your-ac-for-the-winter\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Prepare Your AC for the Winter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When you look at the headline of this post, you might wonder if we\u2019ve gone a touch crazy. Temperatures are <em>dropping<\/em> and it\u2019s already December! Why would you need to worry about preparing the air conditioning system for this kind of weather?<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>But we\u2019re not talking about making sure that your air conditioner will work well during the winter. We\u2019re talking about protecting the outdoor unit of the AC through the winter weather so that it\u2019s in the best shape for when you need it again around spring time. Below are the steps that you can take to properly winterize the outdoor unit of your AC.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>First, shut off the outdoor units circuit. You should find this located close to the cabinet, protected by a plastic or metal cover. Switch the circuit to the &#8220;off&#8221; position. This will prevent the air conditioner from turning on during a brief warm spell and accidentally pulling in water that can cause rust and other problems.<\/li>\n<li>Next, give the outdoor unit a cleaning. This doesn\u2019t need to entail much. Use a garden hose to wash down the cabinet. Then remove larger debris, like leaves and sticks, from it. Let the unit dry completely.<\/li>\n<li>Now place a protective cover over the cabinet. Waterproof vinyl is the best material for this, and you can purchase specialty AC covers from hardware stores. However, any waterproof material that\u2019s large enough to encase the whole cabinet will do the job.<\/li>\n<li>Secure the cover in place so that a strong wind won\u2019t whip it off during the winter. You can wrap bungee cords around it a few times to do this.<\/li>\n<li>Throughout the rest of the winter, make regular checks to see that the cover is still in place.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As soon as the winter weather fades with the coming of spring, remove the cover, switch the circuit back on\u2026 and then call up our technicians for <a href=\"\/air-conditioning\/ac-maintenance\">spring maintenance<\/a>. After this, you should have a AC that\u2019s in excellent condition to handle another summer.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Oasis Heating, A\/C &amp; Refrigeration is here to <a href=\"\/heating\">help you with your heating needs<\/a> in Arlington, VA. Quality since 1998.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">\n{\n  \"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\/\", \n  \"@type\": \"HowTo\", \n  \"name\": \"How to Prepare Your AC for the Winter\",\n  \"description\": \"When you look at the headline of this post, you might wonder if we\u2019ve gone a touch crazy. Temperatures are dropping and it\u2019s already December! Why would you need to worry about preparing the air conditioning system for this kind of weather?\",\n  \"image\": \"https:\/\/prnt.sc\/uhsst9\",\n  \"totalTime\": \"PT5M\",\n  \"estimatedCost\": {\n    \"@type\": \"MonetaryAmount\",\n    \"currency\": \"USD\",\n    \"value\": \"0\"\n  },\n  \"step\": [{\n    \"@type\": \"HowToStep\",\n    \"text\": \"First, shut off the outdoor units circuit. You should find this located close to the cabinet, protected by a plastic or metal cover. Switch the circuit to the \u201coff\u201d position. 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Waterproof vinyl is the best material for this, and you can purchase specialty AC covers from hardware stores. However, any waterproof material that\u2019s large enough to encase the whole cabinet will do the job.\",\n    \"image\": \"https:\/\/prnt.sc\/uhsst9\",\n    \"name\": \"Place a protective cover over the cabinet\",\n    \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.oasiscooling.com\/blog\/how-to-prepare-your-ac-for-the-winter\/\"\n  },{\n    \"@type\": \"HowToStep\",\n    \"text\": \"Secure the cover in place so that a strong wind won\u2019t whip it off during the winter. You can wrap bungee cords around it a few times to do this.\",\n    \"image\": \"https:\/\/prnt.sc\/uhsst9\",\n    \"name\": \"Secure the cover in place\",\n    \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.oasiscooling.com\/blog\/how-to-prepare-your-ac-for-the-winter\/\"\n  },{\n    \"@type\": \"HowToStep\",\n    \"text\": \"Throughout the rest of the winter, make regular checks to see that the cover is still in place.\",\n    \"image\": \"https:\/\/prnt.sc\/uhsst9\",\n    \"name\": \"Regularly check unit's cover\",\n    \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.oasiscooling.com\/blog\/how-to-prepare-your-ac-for-the-winter\/\"\n  }]    \n}\n<\/script>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019re not talking about making sure that your air conditioner will work well during the winter. We\u2019re talking about protecting the outdoor unit of the AC through the winter weather so that it\u2019s in the best shape for when you need it again around spring time<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[78],"tags":[156],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oasiscooling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1077"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oasiscooling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oasiscooling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oasiscooling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oasiscooling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1077"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.oasiscooling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1514,"href":"https:\/\/www.oasiscooling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1077\/revisions\/1514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oasiscooling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oasiscooling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oasiscooling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}