Two-thirds of all American homes have air conditioners, and every single one of them breaks down at some point or another. Fixing and maintaining your AC is not something you should be adding to your DIY list, and you can often end up just making things worse.

Professional air conditioning repair services know every type of AC system inside and out, from how often they should have maintenance performed to tricks on how to save you tons of money on energy bills. Here are just a few of the many benefits to calling in the pros for all your air condition repair needs:

Regular maintenance. Keeping regular AC maintenance plans is a crucial part of saving money down the road on replacing your entire system. Only about 42% of U.S. homes with central air equipment get them serviced annually, which is a huge mistake. Your air conditioner is a complex system of parts and wires that depend on one another to function properly. If anything is worn down or out of place, if affects the productivity of your AC system, which could lead to much larger and more expensive repairs.

Energy efficiency. When you seek professional air conditioning repair, you are making an investment as opposed to a purchase. Your experienced repairman can make the necessary adjustments to your system to tweak its energy uses, as well as make suggestions for different AC systems that will save you money on every bills each month. Switching to high-efficiency air conditioners and taking other actions to improve your AC system could reduce energy use by 20-50%. You simply can’t afford not to call a pro to see how much extra money your air conditioning is costing you.

Replace dirty filters. One of the most overlooked parts of air conditioning repair is more of a replacement than a repair. Every air conditioning system uses filters to keep unwanted contaminants out of your home’s air. When these filters become dirty, your air quality suffers greatly, and your energy bills skyrocket. In fact, you can reduce the energy used by your air conditioning by up to 15% just by replacing a dirty, clogged filter with a clean one.