The heat of summer is upon us and what worse time for your AC unit to not be dispelling cool air! What could be some of the causes of this and is there anything you can do yourself?
Before attempting to trouble-shoot your AC unit or inspect any element of it, be sure the unit is powered off completely. The shut-off is typically located near your outdoor compressor. In addition, go to your electrical panel and shut off the voltage power associated with the unit. Better to be safe than sorry.
The first logical step should be to place your hand where the compressor is and check to see if it's warm. If it's warm, it's running and not doing its job of outputting cool air. You may find that your fan is running but not your compressor. While this may help narrow down the problem, it is one that will need to be remedied before the unit will blow out cool air once again. If that checks out, you can move on to next logical steps. At this point, you should carefully examine your caps and if they appear damaged, this is normally a relatively easy and inexpensive item to replace.
If all of those things seem to appear ok, next, once it is safe to do so, check for any debris in or around your unit and clean it out. The next logical step would be to locate the cover in front of the fan blades and remove it. Once removed, you can now carefully dust around the fan blades taking care not to bend them in the process. You can spray the inside out with your hose, but be sure to protect the electrical wiring of your unit with some kind of plastic covering.
One of the most common causes of your AC not providing cool air is refrigerant that is no longer charged. This could be a result of a faulty compressor or other electrical problem. While there are some simple "cleaning" things you can do and inspect on your own, if you suspect an electrical issue being the cause, it may be best to make a call to a professional HVAC guy.
If you need AC unit or furnace repairs from an expert HVAC technician, contact the team at All Heating and Cooling today.