Fixing air conditioners is something no homeowner wants to deal with, but if you know what’s wrong with your unit, you may have an easier time getting it fixed. Here are just a few of the most common reasons AC units break.
The refrigerant is leaking. If an AC unit’s refrigerant charge leaks out, then the system’s capacity becomes lowered. Consequently, it can’t cool as well as it could, and it won’t be able to keep up with increasing demand when things start getting hotter and hotter. Though you might think you could just plug the hole up with some tape, it’s best to let the pros take care of it.
It might have overheated. There’s a chance that your system might have overheated, too. When this happens, the circuit breaker will trip, and most homeowners will flip it back without thinking. This doesn’t solve the problem, unfortunately. If your AC unit isn’t working as well, and your circuit breaker keeps tripping, and you’re not sure why, it could be your air conditioner.
The airflow might be blocked. Perhaps the biggest problems AC units face is a blocked airflow. This extremely common problem happens when the airflow across the condenser coil — the outdoor coil — becomes reduced. This causes the unit’s ability to reject the heat from outdoors to become reduced, and causes the capacity of the system to plummet, particularly if the outdoor temperatures are quite hot.
Fixing air conditioners isn’t anything anyone wants to take care, but if you know what’s wrong with your residential HVAC unit — if you know air conditioning companies need to replace AC coils or change the HVAC air filters — then the problem won’t seem so bad.
If you have any questions about fixing air conditioners, or the problems your unit might be experiencing, feel free to share in the comments.
