Sometimes the air conditioner will fail to cool the house, and you have to deal with an uncomfortable and stuffy house. The situation is even worse if the air conditioner is old.
When the air conditioner stops cooling the house, you have a problem in your hands. After all, the unit should be cooling the house, so when it’s not doing it, it’s not doing its job, and you should fix it.
Thankfully, you can fix the issue either by yourself or with the help of an experienced air conditioner repair services provider. To help you out, here is how to fix air conditioner not cooling:
Set the thermostat correctly
In most cases, the AC will fail to cool the house due to an improperly set thermostat, so the first thing you should check when your unit isn’t working properly is the thermostat settings.
Ensure the unit is set to cool. If the unit is already properly set, check the temperature setting and ensure it’s set at the right temperature. If the temperature is off, set it properly.
You should then switch on the unit and wait for a few minutes, and if you have fixed the problem, it should start blowing cold air from the registers.
Clean the air filters
When is the last time you cleaned the air filters? If it has been long, the unit might be failing to cool the house due to the dirt clogging your unit.
The air filters role is to literally filter the air getting into the house, so due to its location and role, it’s common for it to clog up with dirt, dust and other airborne particles.
Besides a clogged air filter reducing the air conditioner’s efficiency, it sometimes blocks the airflow and reduces the cooling of the house. If you go for too long without cleaning the unit, the system can shut down completely, and you have no cool air getting into your house.
To clean the air filter, you need to locate it then turn the system off. After that, you can clean the filter or replace it. It all depends on the type of air conditioner you have.
The beauty of it all is you don’t have to hire a professional to help with cleaning or replacing the air filter. As long as you know where the filter is located and access it, you are good to go.
Clean the outdoor unit
The outdoor unit is simply the condenser, and its role is to condense the hot air into cool air. Unfortunately, if it has been long since you paid attention to it, chances are it’s clogged with debris and dirt. This prevents proper cooling and, at the same time, blocks heat transfer.
All you need to do is remove weed and dirt surrounding the outdoor unit, and restore the unit to its proper working condition.
Like when cleaning the air filter, you don’t need to hire a professional to help you clean the condenser. The only reason you can consider hiring one is if you need deeper cleaning and maintenance.
Unfreeze the evaporator coil
The evaporator coil removes heat and humidity from the warm indoor air passing through it then cooler, more comfortable air circulates back into the house.
Due to age or improper care, the evaporator coil will freeze, and this means that it can’t remove the heat and humidity from the air.
Telltale signs you are dealing with a frozen evaporator coil include:
- Inadequate cooling
- Frost forming on the copper refrigerant tubing
- High utility bills
- Excessive condensate drainage near the indoor unit
- In extreme cases, frost will form on the exterior refrigerant tubing on the outdoor unit.
To restore the air conditioner to proper working condition, you have to unfreeze the evaporator coil. Unfreezing the coil is complex, and you can easily destroy the coil when accessing it so you are better off leaving the work to a professional AC repair services Port Jefferson provider.
Seal the refrigerant leak
When the refrigerant leaks, the refrigerant levels are too low to cool the house, so you have to seal the leak before adding more refrigerant. As the evaporator coil problem, sealing the refrigerant leak is complex, so you should leave it to a professional.