Spring is in full bloom, and chances are you’ve already run your air conditioner regularly this year. In a few weeks, you’ll need to run it every day to keep your home cool and comfortable. If there’s a problem with your system, now is the time to have it diagnosed and repaired, before the first real heat wave hits. Otherwise, you might experience an unexpected breakdown in the middle of the hottest day of summer, forcing you to scramble before your home turns into an oven.
Laymen should never attempt to diagnose a problem with their air conditioner, much less repair it. Doing so requires proper training and licensing: refrigerant and other components are dangerous without the proper handling. Nevertheless, you can still detect when something might be wrong with your air conditioner by looking for certain common symptoms that arise when a problem has developed.
Generally speaking, anything out of the ordinary in your air conditioner’s behavior is reason to suspect a problem. More specifically, look for any of the following symptoms (though this is far from a comprehensive list).
- Odd Noises. Odd noises constitute any sound that you don’t recognize as part of the normal functioning of the air conditioner. Loose components will rattle in their housings, breaches in the ducts will result in hums and whistles, and friction, and moving parts will create scraping or grinding noises. This is just a small sample of the kind of noises evinced by a problem with your AC.
- Reduced Cooling Levels. If the air conditioner blows hot air instead of cold air, you can probably guess that there’s a problem. But the same principle holds true in the event that the air is still cool, just not as cool as you expect. It can be caused by anything form reduced refrigerant levels to a breach in your ducts, but the end result is the same: the system needs to work harder to cool your home, which increases both the monthly cost of running the AC and the risk of a breakdown somewhere else in the system.
- Low Air Flow. Low air flow can be caused either by a blockage in the system itself (such as a clogged air filter) or a problem with the fan or fan motor restricting the system’s ability to blow air through the ducts. Either way, it adds up to the same problem as reduced cooling levels: the system has to work harder to do its job, elevating both the cost of running your AC and the chances of a breakdown.
- Higher Monthly Bills. Sometimes, a problem won’t be reflected in anything obvious, but the resulting drag on the system will force it to spend more energy to do its job. If you spot a surprising spike in your bills, especially if you haven’t used your system more often than normal, it’s probably a sign that something’s wrong.
If you spot these signs or any other indication that your air conditioner is having problems doing its job, turn it off and call Collier’s Comfort right away. We perform air conditioning repair services throughout the Fort Wayne, IN area.