Answer to question

Good question. Remember that I am not a licensed heat and air technician. If you have any doubts what so ever about any of the procedures I discuss, please do not proceed!!!
Usually you can service your own equipment.( The exception being if you need your evaporator coil pulled and cleaned, only trust licensed heat and air companies to do that. ) Equipment should be serviced at least once a year, Before summer is one of best times to do your service. For summer services: You start by turning the power off to the unit ( Very important ) then with the garden hose with nozzle, start at the top of the outside coil and go back and forth as you go down to the bottom ( the coils are made of aluminum so don't use pressure high enough to bend them, they bend easily !!) You will be able to see the water coming out the other side of the coil , (if you look down inside the condensing unit as you are spraying the outside coil), and you continue till water runs clear. There is the electric box and the motors that you want to be careful of getting wet, if there is any possibilty of them being wet, wait till dry to turn unit back on. That and a filter change and basically you have a summer service. A licensed company will also check pressures ( freon ) while servicing equipment , but if you have no history of leaks, and your unit cools fine,then a freon pressure check is not necessarily needed. I hope this has been useful, if you have any more questions, or there is anything I can elaborate on above, please let me know.