Maintenance for a house that stands empty half the year

A great deal of the built-in refrigeration in 92109 spends part of the year in a house nobody is standing in, and that is what this visit is written for. The unit is left running, often on vacation mode, while the kitchen sits shut for six weeks: the ice maker keeps harvesting into a bin nobody empties, the defrost drain dries out and then ices on the first humid week, the gasket takes a set in one position, and an afternoon drift that would have been noticed on day two runs unremarked until somebody arrives in June. None of that is wear. It is idleness, and it is cheap to catch on a schedule and expensive to meet in July. The condenser gets cleaned on the same visit, on a shorter cycle than the manual assumes, because the intake air here carries salt and fine sand on top of the usual dust.

What this covers in Pacific Beach

One visit covers every sealed system in the house, not only the one complaining. Condenser cleaning and airflow clearance on the built-in and on every undercounter unit, door gasket inspection and reseating, defrost drain clearing, calibrated temperature checks in both compartments, an inspection of the exposed metal and fasteners that salt air attacks first, water filter and supply line checks, and fan motor draw on the condenser and both evaporators.

• Condenser and grille cleaning on built-ins, drawers, beverage centers and ice makers
• Calibrated temperature check in each compartment, taken at the coil and in the cabinet
• Door gasket condition, magnet pull and alignment, the part that costs most when it is ignored
• Defrost drain flushed and proved through to the pan, before marine humidity ices it shut
• Corrosion check on condenser fins, fan hardware, hinges and exposed fasteners
• Water filter age, line condition and pressure at the inlet valve
• Fan motor current draw and bearing noise, condenser and evaporators

Corrosion is the maintenance item that is genuinely different on this side of the county. Aluminum fins and steel fasteners in salt air corrode from the surface inward, and the process is quiet: fin edges fur over, fan hardware stiffens, and hinge and latch hardware gets tight long before anything actually breaks. It is cheap to catch at the fin and fastener stage and expensive once a fan bearing has seized and taken the cooling with it.

OEM parts, or an authorized supplier when the factory part is unavailable, and one price agreed before the work starts. Call (858) 947-1121 and tell us what the appliance is doing.