Living in coolness in the summer can be taken for granted, especially until you encounter a taste of uneasiness with an air conditioner failure. It can occur at the worst moments; you’re eating lunch and abruptly recognize how warm your kitchen feels or you can’t fall asleep at night because you are so hot enfolded in your covers. Think you’re feeling this uncomfortable feeling? It might be an occasion for an air conditioner replacement.
Often times, it isn’t the thermostat’s error; the settings can be working correctly, but it still says that the temperature is above 80 degrees. It’s most often caused by an old or faulty air conditioner that requires a call to the experts to find out what’s wrong. There are many reasons why air conditioners fail, especially considering the weather in Sandpoint. Here are a couple of things that you can look for before you call Age Heating & Cooling if you think your air conditioner has quit working:
- Broken outdoor fan motor: There is a fan motor on your outdoor air conditioning system that helps transport the heat from your home to the outdoors. If you examine your system and see that the fan isn’t functioning properly, it means that the heat transfer isn’t transpiring, causing the warm air to stay in your home. This malfunction can also trigger overheating of the compressor and other possible internal destruction to your system.
- Dirty filters: It’s one of the most likely problems that Age Heating & Cooling sees. These unclean filters in your air conditioner decrease suitable airflow, affecting the air quality in your home, which is really difficult when allergy season comes around. Dirty air filters can also decrease the efficiency in your home and increase your monthly energy costs.
- Blocked air flow: Always look for an obstruction or blockage in your return-air or supply-air grille. This can set off your air conditioner to decrease efficiency and reduce speed.
TIP: Make sure the grilles aren’t covered by furniture or other home items, also. - Outside obstructions: Proper air flow could be also deterred from outside obstructions close to your system, such as shrubbery, trees, lawn chairs, etc. When the air flow is deterred, it can change it’s cooling abilities. Make sure that your system is free from obstacles and is cleaned routinely to decrease the likelihood of air conditioner replacement.
Once you’ve worked through these four system checks and your air conditioner still isn’t running, here are a list of questions and additional checks that you should look into and answer to get your system up and running again. (Only progress to the next question if the system doesn’t turn on after doing the step before it):
- Is your thermostat temperature set below the indoor temperature?
- Is your system switch in the COOL spot?
- Is the outdoor unit power supply switch ON?
- Is the furnace/air handler power supply ON?
- Is your house fuse box/breaker box ok or has it blown a fuse or tripped a circuit breaker?
- If none of these things fix your system function, call Age Heating & Cooling at 208-578-4258.
Don’t let an air conditioner malfunction or replacement keep you up at night. If you follow these steps and keep your system under routine maintenance, you should have you air conditioner running again in no time. Our team at Age Heating & Cooling in Sandpoint is always here to help – give us a call at 208-578-4258.