Mtowner

I've been told it is a good idea to turn off the electric power to my AC during the winter months. Is this an acceptable idea? It is suppose to save electricity, but I don't want to cause a bigger problem if I shut it off?

kok328

I shut mine off at the breaker. My logic is that is a lighting storm or power surge should occur, then the A/C won't get hit.

DrHicks

I normally don't cut the power to my AC unit during the winter months. No particular reason, other than that I just never have.

A lot of central air units will have a breaker/fuse panel outside the house, right by the unit. You can either flip the switch, or just pull the fuses.

woodchuck

Some units have a dryer in them to get rid of any moisture that forms in the system. The instructions it says to follow after a power outage during which moisture could have built up is to restore the power but not to run the system until it's been on an hour for every hour it's been without power.

paul52446m

Turning off your ac power does not save on power unless you have a crankcase heater to keep your compressor warm. The main reason to
turn off the ac power is, if a child or anyone makes a mistake and and turns the air on in the real cold weather it will slug the oil out out of the compressor
and then it will be running with no oil for a while until the oil works it way around and back to the compressor. It like taking all the oil out of you car engine and then running it for ten min.. So i tell all my customers to turn off power in the winter. Later Paul

Mtowner

Thanks for the takes. I'm shutting off the power until Spring and warmer temps