central a/c care and maintenance ??

I am buying a house that has central air and was just wondering what the maintenance is like. . .how often do I have to have the vents/ducts cleaned? does someone have to come to the house to "turn it on" in the summer?

any other info would be helpful.

Thanks.

Re: central a/c care and maintenance ??

I have central air. We have a service contract with a company and they come once a year for maintenance (they clean the filter, add coolant, make any necessary repairs). I know some people don't do an annual routine maintenance check, but I think it really extends the life of your system if you do. And our system is pretty old, so we are trying to keep it up and running as long as we can!

Sometimes if the air filter gets really dirty/dusty, my husband will take it down and clean it himself. But other than that, it doesn't require any special maintenance.

You can just turn it on yourself. This year, our annual maintenance appointment was in late June, but we had already started using the AC in May. As long as it's a certain temp outside (I think it should be at least 65 degrees for 3 days straight), you are fine to just turn it on.