Preventative Maintenance Checks and Services (PMCS) is actually a military idea that makes sense. The military does it before, during and after using any equipment that is basically useable more then one time. So you can see it is not the "latest idea." Right now would be a good time to do some PMCS to your home air conditioning (AC) system. If you have not poured some good old bleach in your AC condensate drain line now would be the ideal time to do so. Try to do this every quarter of the year for best results.
Have you changed the air filter yet? Better do it and if it is not dirty then consider spraying it with one of household dusting sprays the Mrs. uses to pick up dust from the furniture. Makes a cheap filter into a heavy duty cleaning one. It is a trick we have used for months instead of those expensive $4 filters we buy the $1 ones and spray them with Endust. Works like a champ.
Also during the hottest months of the cooling season it is a super time to take the old garden hose out to the outside unit and gentle like give the condenser coil a nice through soaking and cleaning. If your unit is one of those that sits in the yard, take time to trim the grass and weeds all out from around it so it can breath some nice clean cool air. Your pocket book or checking account will notice the difference on the next power billing cycle.
When was the last time you did any real maintenance on the one household appliance that everyone uses everyday? What is this thing called? A refrigerator! Refrigerators need maintenance too. The condenser coil on most refrigerators is located on either the back or underneath. Those located on the bottom need maintenance more frequently since they tend to catch the most lint, dust and dust bunnies. The fan and its fan blade need special attention as the blade tends to collect lint on the leading edge which turns the blade into a "churning device" instead of a "fan or propeller."
Refrigerator doors and door gaskets need to be checked for closing properly and the gaskets need to be cleaned and inspected. Once a door gasket starts to crack or go to pot, it needs to be replaced. Order a new one from the manufacturer, it may cost more. But it will be easier to replace and that makes it cheaper then a new refrigerator door. Believe it or not, the average mechanically inclined person can replace a door gasket.
The next time you wash the family vehicle do the same thing to your cars AC condenser coil it is located in the front grille area usually right in front of the radiator. Very important to keep this area clean and dust free.
Why do we want to do all this cleaning? The answer is quite simple. First a lesson in how air conditioning works. AC works by taking the heat inside the car or house and removing it. The refrigerant is pumped to the evaporator as a liquid. Here it turns into a gas and collects heat and takes it back to the compressor. The compressor in turn pumps it back up and sends the hot gas to the condenser coil. Here is turns from a hot gas into a liquid state and gets rid of the heat at the same time. Then the gas that was turned back in to a liquid state goes back to the evaporator and starts the cycle over.
If the evaporator is clean and moving air, it removes the heat, that heat then has to go some where else. The condenser coil is the only place it can get rid of it. Therefore, that condenser coil has to be kept clean and lots of cool air moving over it. When it can't get rid of that heat, guess what? You get hot, cranky and turn into a miserable person, plus your radiator then gets hotter, the engine overheats and you really get hot, cranky and are a miserable person. Totally unfit for human company. Do your friends a favor, keep those coils clean and working. Don't be an old grouch!
After Hurricane Roof Maintenance:
Go to your local builder supply store, yea, Home Depot or Lowe's. Grab up a few caulk style tubes of "Wagner's Wet or Dry Plastic Roofing Cement. Get out your trusty get on the roof ladder, a big floppy hat, an old throw away rag or two, your caulking gun, a two inch throw away or old paint brush and some soft comfortable shoes.
If you lost some shingle tabs, take them with you and find the location and apply the Wagner's to the backside of the tab and press it into place. You only need enough to make it stick and not squeeze out from underneath and get all over you and the roof. If it does squeeze out which until I got it right my job did on the first couple, I just left it alone rather then make a mess.
I found that if a shingle tab broke off it usually was in an area where the wind got up under several. You will develop an eye for this as you go along. At first I just used a finger on the edge of the shingle tabs. If you can raise it, then use your paint brush to clean the debris out and then apply some roof sealer/cement to the loose spot and press it back down. After a few finds you get the amount and method right. I started to step on them before moving to the next spot that really seals the spot down.
When you are looking for loose spots look for shingle tabs that have the protective coloring worn off. That is or was a good indicator for me when I was repairing my roof.
While you are up there take a minute and look at your gutters while your up there and you will find them full to more then likely. At the instance of my wife I had to install gutter guards or leaf shields on our gutters and they are worth every penny you spend for them. The type we found to work the best are a semi-rigid plastic with round holes to let the rain through, but ours have a fine nylon screen on the downside to keep stuff from getting past the holes.
Our gutter guards or leaf shields installed by simply slipping the skinny edge underneath the bottom row of shingles and snapping the outer edge on to the lip edge of the gutter itself. Takes one or two before you get the hang of it. It looks complicated but it is simple to do. Don't make a big deal out of it. Cut them to size with a pair of tin snipes, or heavy duty scissors.