ALBANY, N.Y. -- After months of cold weather, it's about time to start thinking about warmer days -- and air conditioning.

Service companies say before you turn on the AC, though, you'll need an annual check and cleaning. This lets professionals make sure filters are in good shape and everything works properly. It takes about an hour, and reduces the chance something goes wrong.

"If you don't have the system cleaned every year, the little capacitor starts to overheat. It'll actually pop and that just shuts the whole system off,” said Brian Hartman, Appolo Heating’s lead supervisor. "It's almost like a safety feature for the whole system. So just by doing simple maintenance on that, you're going to save yourself hundreds of dollars a year for that."

Hartman says it's usually first-time homeowners that don't realize air conditioners need to be checked annually.