Top Things to Check When Your Air Conditioner Stops Working

17 August 2016
 Categories: , Blog


Has your air conditioner stopped working properly? Do you still get cool air, but not enough to make a significant dent in the temperature of your home? If this sounds like you, you're probably wondering whether there is anything you can do to remedy the situation. Although actual air-conditioning repair should always be performed by a qualified repair technician, there are a few things that might help with your situation. Here are a few things you can try.

Change the filter: When the temperature inside keeps rising, it's easy to forget something as simple as a filter. This is especially true if changing the filter isn't on the calendar until a future date. But things can happen that can make changing the filter a necessity. You may have been doing some home-improvement task that created a lot of excess dust, or perhaps excess pollen has been brought in from outside and has clogged the filter. Without sufficient air flow, there will be very little cool air coming out of your vents, and you could be fooled into thinking that you're in serious need of an air-conditioning repair.

Change the thermostat batteries: Some thermostats are wired directly to the air conditioner and don't need batteries. But many new thermostat models send their signals wirelessly or have batteries installed so that settings are saved in the event of a power outage. When the batteries start to die, your air conditioner may start to misbehave. If the thermostat is completely wireless, the signals may not be getting through to the air conditioner at all, or they may only be arriving sporadically. You may not even know that your thermostat takes batteries until something goes wrong. Try pulling on your thermostat gently. If it takes batteries, it may simply open like a hinge to reveal the batteries that need to be replaced.

Wash the unit: If you have a ground-based air conditioner, it can get dirtier than one that is up on your roof. Small animals, such as spiders or lizards, might crawl into the unit and be unable to find their way out again. If a spider weaves its web inside your air conditioner, the web will get dirty and may partially block waste heat from escaping. Although you should leave dealing with the inside of the unit to a trained air-conditioning repair technician, you can still spray down the outside of the unit with a hose. This will help to loosen any trapped leaves, dirt, or debris that is directly on the radiator. Once this debris is gone, you may find that your air conditioner functions at least a little bit better.

Visit sites such as http://www.getzschman.com to find an HVAC contractor near you. 


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