When the hot summer season takes hold, you likely rely on your cooling system to stay comfortable and safe. Unfortunately, your cooling system can experience malfunctions over its entire lifespan. If you notice that your cooling system is running but not adequately cooling your home, there could be a couple of different reasons behind this particular malfunction.
Clogged Air Filter
By far, one of the most common reasons that your air conditioning system may not be able to adequately cool your home is that its air filter is full of debris. While this air filter is great for protecting the internal components of your system and improving the quality of air inside your home, it can decrease your system’s efficiency when it’s too full. Fortunately, this is a pretty easy problem to diagnose.
All you need to do is remove the air filter from the filter’s housing in your return ducting. Hold the filter up to a light and look through it. If you can’t see through the filter, it’s too dirty and needs to be replaced. Make sure that you’re keeping up with regular filter changes to prevent this issue from occurring in the future.
Low Refrigerant Level
For your air conditioning system to remove heat from inside your home and disburse it to the outdoors, it needs to have adequate refrigerant. This special substance runs through the coils and refrigerant lines in your system. Unfortunately, if one of the coils or lines develops a leak or one of the joints holding the lines together becomes loose, it can allow this precious refrigerant to seep out into the air.
When there isn’t enough refrigerant inside your system, it isn’t going to be able to remove an adequate amount of heat from your home. It’s going to make your home feel hot and uncomfortable. In order to remedy this situation, you’ll need to have one of our AC professionals come in and assess the source of the leak to repair it. Furthermore, they will adequately recharge the refrigerant level to get it back up to where it needs to be so that your cooling system can function appropriately.
Dirty Coils
For your air conditioning system to remove heat from inside your home, the heat needs to pass through the evaporator coil. In order to disperse heat, heat needs to pass from the condenser coil to the air outside. If either of these coils is overly dirty, that layer of debris can prevent the successful passing of heat in or out of the coil. To fix this problem, you need to shut off your system and thoroughly clean both the evaporator and condenser coils.
Thermostat Malfunction
Your thermostat is the brains behind your entire air conditioning system. It tells your system to turn on whenever it senses that the temperature inside your home isn’t where you want it to be. Unfortunately, if your thermostat isn’t working correctly, it could be sending the wrong signals to your air conditioning system.
For example, if your thermostat isn’t calibrated correctly, it could be reading that the temperature inside your home is actually cooler than it really is. This can have your air conditioning system running minimally to maintain what it believes is a cooler temperature when it’s actually hotter than you want it to be. To remedy this particular issue, you’ll need to have one of our professionals calibrate your thermostat appropriately.
Wrong Thermostat Setting
Another reason that your air conditioning system may be running and blowing hot air is that you have your thermostat set wrong. The blower fan for your system can be set to either on or auto. When set to on, your blower fan will run non-stop. When the blower fan is set to auto, it will only turn on when your air conditioning system is on.
Check your settings to see if you have it set to on as this could be blowing hot air whenever your air conditioning system isn’t running. Fortunately, this is an easy fix, as all you have to do is switch your thermostat setting from the blower fan being on to auto.
Blocked Condenser Unit
One other reason that your air conditioning system may not be able to sufficiently cool your home is that your outdoor condenser unit is blocked. This unit is responsible for releasing hot air to the outdoors. If it’s unable to do so, that hot air is just going to build up inside your home and make it feel warm.
It’s a good idea to take a look at your outdoor condenser unit and remove any debris that’s stuck up against it. If there is any vining greenery or shrubbery that surrounds the unit, make sure to trim those back to open up about 2 to 3 feet of space around your entire condenser unit.
Furthermore, assess the fins on the outside of the condenser unit to see if any of them are bent out of position. If they are, they’re not going to be able to remove heat successfully. You’ll want to use a fin comb or a flathead screwdriver to bend those fins back to their original position.
Faulty Compressor
One reason that your air conditioning system may not be cooling your home is that the compressor pump in your outdoor condenser unit is faulty. You may hear it produce a weird noise before it goes out. Without the compressor pump moving refrigerant throughout your air conditioning system, this system won’t be able to remove heat from the air inside your home. One key indicator that you have a compressor pump problem is that you hear the blower components running but the outdoor condenser unit isn’t.
Faulty Blower Components
Another reason that your air conditioning system may be running but not cooling your home is that there’s a problem with one of the blower components. In this scenario, the outdoor condenser unit will run perfectly fine. However, you won’t hear the blower fan running to blow that cold air throughout your ducting. There are multiple components inside the blower compartment that can malfunction. Some of the most common include the blower fan belt and the blower motor.
The Importance of Annual Maintenance Service
One of the best ways to help prevent having an issue with your air conditioning system during the hot summer months is to get regular maintenance service. This is where one of our professional HVAC technicians will properly assess your air conditioning system and give it the care it needs to function properly.
This maintenance service includes things like lubricating moving parts, calibrating your thermostat, testing electrical connections, and so much more. It’s great for detecting any potential problems that your system may have so that you can repair them swiftly. It’s also typically necessary to maintain the warranty coverage on your air conditioning system so that you’re not paying out of pocket for future repair bills.
Helpful AC Repair Service
Carnley Services offers helpful AC repair services in Jay, FL. Our team can assist with all your cooling system replacement, new installation, and maintenance needs. Simply give us a call today to book your next service appointment.
