Planting trees around your house can either improve or interfere with the cooling efforts of your air conditioner (AC). Following are some examples of how trees can have both positive and negative effects on your AC. First, the positive:

They Can Lighten Your AC's Cooling Load

The shade thrown by the trees around your house can help in cooling your house. This happens because trees block radiation from the sun, ensuring that the walls, roof, and ground around your house do not get too heated. This radiation normally heats up the house, which means your house will be cooler if it is surrounded by trees. In the end, your AC will not have to work as hard as it would need to work without the trees.

They Can Prevent Storm Damage

Strong winds can hurl debris onto the outside unit of your AC system, which can clog or even damage the delicate fins. These fins are needed for heat exchange, as they carry the heated refrigerant that needs to give up its heat to the outside air. So, damaged fins equals poor cooling. Planting trees around the condenser unit can help block some of the flying debris, such as toys or garden furniture, and prevent them from damaging the condenser fins.

They Can Hide the Outside Unit

Most people agree that the outside AC unit is not a pretty site to look at. This is especially true if you live in a beautiful compound with landscaped grounds and well-planned aesthetic improvements, such as waterfalls and flower beds. At the same time, you need the condenser for the AC to function. Luckily, you can plant trees around the house in such a way that they hide your condenser unit.

Although planting trees around your house can help with your AC, they can also create some problems for your air conditioner's operations. Here are some of the problems carelessly planted trees can create:

They Can Interfere With Air Circulation

The condenser unit is where heat exchange takes place: the heated air from inside the house gives up its heat to the outside air. This process can only be efficient if air is allowed to circulate freely around the condenser unit. Planting trees too close to the unit interferes with air circulation and reduces your AC's cooling capacity.

Tree Debris Can Clog the Outside Unit

Twigs, flowers, seeds, and leaves are some of the tree debris that may drop and clog the condenser unit. Again, the clogging will reduce your AC's cooling unit by insulating the fins and interfering with the free flow of air.

For any questions regarding maintenance or repair of your AC unit, contact a professional company like Tuck & Howell.