If you own a dog, you know that they can destroy your lawn by digging holes, but you probably don’t realize that they can also destroy your air conditioner. If you dog decides to mark your air conditioner and continue to do so, you may have a problem on your hands. Even newer AC units with heavy-duty protective grates are susceptible to damage from dog urine. All these protective grates do is hide the damage.
Protect Outside Air Conditioning Condenser Unit
The outside air conditioning unit’s job is to remove heat that your AC has collected from inside your home. How does this happen? Hot refrigerant flows through a condensing coil, then a fan blows air over the coil. The air absorbs the heat from the coil and cools the refrigerant. Then the compressor pumps the cooled refrigerant back into your home to absorb more heat and the cycle continues. The condensing coil has fins attached to it. The purpose of these fins is to improve the energy efficiency of your air conditioner by increasing the surface area of the coil. This of course helps dump heat faster.
How to Stop Dog from Peeing on Air Conditioner
The damage that dog urine can cause can be costly. Dog urine can affect your air conditioner in three ways:
1. If you notice only a little damage you may choose to leave it. If less than 25% of the fins are damaged it will continue to work but your energy bill will be higher, and you will need to take steps to prevent further damage.
2. If you discover that there is damage to the condensing coil you may have to replace it. The condensing coil has a big job and will need to be replaced if you find more than 25% of the fins have been destroyed and your unit is still pretty new. You should only replace the coil if you can do it for no more than 50% of what it would cost to replace the entre outside unit. Otherwise it’s more cost effective to replace the whole unit.
3. If the coil needs to be replaced it’s usually best to replace the whole unit. More so if your unit is more than 10 years old or there isn’t a replacement coil available. Remember the 50 % rule when it comes to how much the replacement would cost versus the cost of a new unit.
Fence for AC Unit
Your air conditioner is an expensive piece of equipment. You can save yourself the money it will cost by keeping your dog away from the outdoor unit. You can install a fence around it, but it needs to be installed correctly. If the fence blocks airflow to the air conditioner it will work less efficiently. Any fence you install can’t be solid and needs to be at least 3 feet from the air conditioner to ensure proper airflow.
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Keep your dog away from your air conditioner and you can avoid costly damage. Contact Air Supply Heating & Air Conditioning for quality repairs, maintenance and installation services.