It’s hot outside, so you turn on your air conditioner. You wait a few moments, expecting the sweet relief of cold air to start blasting through your home. You hover your hand over the vent, only to find the air is…warm?
That can’t be right.
Your air conditioner has two jobs – dehumidifying (though we rarely think about that function) and, much more importantly, keeping your home cold!
Fortunately, most of the time the “warm air” problem is easy enough to fix. So let’s start troubleshooting!
Check your thermostat
“Check your thermostat” is the “have you tried turning it off and on again” of HVAC troubleshooting. You’ve probably already checked your thermostat, but go check it again, just in case.
The most obvious thing to check for is whether or not your thermostat is set to the right temperature. The other thing to check is whether or not it’s set to “heat” or “cool”. On some models, you’ll also want to see if the thermostat’s fan setting is set to “on” – believe it or not, you want it set to “auto”. You’ll also want to make sure that the batteries in your thermostat have enough charge.
Once you’ve checked all of the above, if warm air is still circulating, it’s time to move on to the next step.
Your evaporator coils may be dirty
Dirty evaporator coils can freeze, which renders them incapable of absorbing heat from the warm air inside your home. One common cause of dirty evaporator coils is dirty air filters – the dirt from old air filters can make your way to your evaporator coils, clogging them. When they’re clogged, the warm air from your home can’t pass through them, which leads to frozen coils.
That’s one of the many reasons why you should change your air filters regularly. While you can clean evaporator coils yourself, it can be dangerous and ineffective, so we recommend calling for maintenance.
Your condenser coils could be clogged, too
You want to keep the area around your outdoor unit, sometimes aptly named the condenser unit, clean. When these coils become clogged, it can stop your unit from generating cold air, much in the same way that a blocked evaporator unit can (though for completely different reasons).
Turn off your AC, unplug the unit, and clean out any obvious blockages in the condenser unit.
You could have a refrigerant leak
Refrigerant leaks are the worst case scenario – they’re dangerous, they’re bad for the environment, and they’re next to impossible to fix unless you’re a licensed HVAC technician. Fortunately, even in the worst case scenarios, we can help.
When you’re looking for air conditioner repair in San Marcos, TX, call the Comfort Crew. We’ll get everything fixed in a jiffy, be it problems with your thermostat or a dreaded refrigerant leak. Don’t risk your health or comfort by tolerating an air conditioner that’s blowing warm air – give us a call!
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