Have you ever spent a hot summer without any air conditioning? It’s not fun and if your air conditioning system is broken down you may need an air conditioner repair. Don’t spend another hot summer in the scorching heat without all of the nice cold air we know and love.
Keep reading to learn about the most common problems with air conditioning systems and the steps to prevent repair problems.
Refrigerant Is Low
Refrigerant is what your air conditioning system uses to remove the heat as well as the humidity from the air inside of your home or building. If your air conditioning system ends up developing leaks in the lines of the refrigerant, you can expect your house to not be as cool as it should be because the system needs that refrigerant to cool down the house
However, fixing this type of issue isn’t just about fixing the low refrigerant leak. An HVAC-certified technician will need to be able to find the leak and repair the holes that are in the lines, which can sometimes be very time consuming and it’s expensive to process, definitely when there are multiple leaks to fix.
Evaporator Coils That Are Frozen
Your air conditioning system’s evaporator coil is full of refrigerant, and it is responsible for absorbing the heat from the air. The coils need to have warmer air circulating around them for them to work properly.
When the airflow is diminished or something interrupts it and the evaporator coil becomes too cold, it can begin to form a layer of ice that can buildup on the outside essentially freezing it. Once that takes place, you’ll end up with hot, or warm air coming out of your vents or if you have any air coming out of your vents at all.
Condenser Coils That Are Dirty
Your air conditioning system's condenser coils, which are part of the outdoor unit, get rid of heat by removing it from the air by blowing it outside of the house. If the condenser coil gets covered with dirt, debris, leaves, or any other blockage it won't work well.
This is a very common problem all over the country with all of the soot and pollution in the air. When this takes place, heat transfer is actually embedded, and your air conditioning system has to strain to work extra hard to do its job, leading to increased wear and tear on the parts and could lead to the system completely failing.
Fan Problems
Every air conditioner has a fan that blows across the evaporator coil to essentially cool the air, and another fan that blows across the outdoor condenser to remove the absorbed heat outside of the home.
If for some reason either one of these fans aren’t working—faulty motor, no lubrication, belts are worn, or there’s too much debris—you get poor airflow and issues with your air conditioning system. If you don’t take care of the issue it can lead to the compressor to fail which often kills the air conditioner completely.
Ducts Are Leaking
Ductwork is what carries the cool air throughout your home and they run through your walls and ceilings. However, if there happen to be any kind of holes or cracks in the ductwork, the cool air will end up blowing directly inside of your walls not cooling down your house.
And this will also cause your air conditioning system to strain trying to cool down extra areas which will cause your energy bills to sky rocket.
Problems With The Thermostat
If you still have the older style dial-type thermostats—it could be possibly incorrectly calibrated, and that means you air conditioning system isn’t receiving the correct instructions from the control system.
You can easily fix this issue by either replacing the thermostat or recalibrating the existing one. However, if you have the newer style thermostats that are programmable, they can kinda hard to program and you might set it wrong.
If you still happen to have the instruction manual, check it to see if you have it set correctly.
Drains Are Clogged
It’s true that all of the moisture inside of your air conditioning system has to eventually go somewhere. Technically, it’s supposed to drained out of the system through a drain line., into a condensate pan and then finally right down a drain.
If the drain or the drain line gets blocked or clogged somehow or if the condensate pan becomes to full, the extra water can get backed up and end up damaging your system. You can also end up with water leaks then end up damaging your walls, ceilings, and furniture.
