Have you ever experienced your AC not cooling
or maybe you’ve had to call a repairman for some air conditioner troubleshooting help.
Well, in this video we’ll talk about 7 things homeowners do to cause problems with
their air conditioners…even though they might seem obvious, HVAC companies get called
out all the time for an AC not cooling and find out sometimes it’s one of these…come on. Bet you didn’t even realize you might be
causing your own Air Conditioner problems. If nothing else, I hope this video can educate you just a little bit on some simple AC Troubleshooting steps you can try next time your AC's not
cooling.
In real estate they say the most important
thing is location location location. Well when it comes to your Air Conditioner, the
most important thing is air flow, air flow, You know in real estate they say the most important thing is location location location. Well when it comes to your Air Conditioner, the most important thing is air flow, air flow, air flow ….sorry, Deja vu. In the video about
how an air conditioner works I said this — So how do air conditioners work..well there's a lot of moving parts and pieces. Even more than we've got time to show in this video But they all have to be working together in order to get cool air in your home. and if even one of them stops working, you could experience a variety of problems.
The end result usually being no cold air. (in unison) and nobody wants that in the middle of the summer. We had a cool illustration that showed how everything works, whatever. If you want
to watch it, just click right here. So these 7 things that homeowners can do to cause
air conditioner problems they can be broken down into 2 main categories; air flow and communication. I think we’ll start with air flow. At the outdoor or condensing unit you want
to make sure you uncover the unit if you covered it for the winter. If you’ve got bushes
or shrubs close by, keep them trimmed back at least 12-24 inches. Keep the top cleared as well. (Star Wars Music) Get it?..Protected air space. Ugh, nevermind. The system pulls cooler air in over the coils
to help dissipate the heat that the refrigerant just extracted from the home. Then the warm
air is exhausted out of the top.
If either one of those are obstructed, you just might
end up with an AC not cooling. Now inside…make sure you know where your
air filter is. Depending on where you live around the country it might be at the
furnace it could be in a return air vent. Just know where yours is and be sure to check it every month, replace it as needed. I can't stress this enough, this is one of the easiest and also one of the most neglected maintenance items there is, not because we mean to neglect it but because it's so freakin’ easy to forget about it.
So, set a calendar event or maybe have your phone remind you to check it …matter of fact Hey Siri. Remind me to check my filter every month. Siri- OK, I'll start reminding you. Imagine that…it worked. I’ve also thought about setting something
up where homeowners could opt in to receiving a text message every month to remind them to check their filters. …Pretty cool huh? Do me a favor, if this is something you would find helpful, leave a comment below and let us know. Anyway, if you neglect to check your filter
and keep it clean you could end up with an ac not cooling.
This next one surprises most people when they hear it for the first time. You know those rooms in the house that you're not using anymore so you close the doors and the vents because you think it's going to save energy by not heating and
cooling them? Hate to burst your bubble, it could be having an opposite effect. It creates a negative pocket of pressure that… you know what, trust me, it just doesn’t help the way that you think If you want some light reading we put a link
in the description below to this 74 page report by Berkeley Laboratories that explains in excruciating detail, more than you’d ever want to know on the subject.
What about the ones that you’re accidentally covering with furniture or rugs? Whether intentional or not the effects are the same. So keep your supply vents and your return air vents as clear from obstructions as possible. Category 2 – Communication. Just another way
to talk about the thermostat really. Now the thermostat is what reads the temperature
in the living area of the home and then tells the air conditioner when it's getting too
warm. There’s a few things that can actually interfere with that communication.
When this happens
you may think your air conditioner is not working. but really it just never got the
message to turn on. Here’s a few things that you want to check at the thermostat. Now most thermostats have batteries, so see if you
can pop it off the wall and change the batteries. Make sure to change the thermostat from heat
to cool. If you forget to do this, you might be trying to get colder temperatures, but
if your thermostat is set to heat it will never send the message to turn the air on
because it thinks it’s doing what it's supposed to.
Now the last one, double check the programming
on the thermostat. Let me try to explain. Let’s say you've programed your thermostat
to 72 degrees, indicated by the red dotted line. But you are most comfortable at 68 degrees,
indicated by the blue dotted line. When 72 degrees gets too warm, you go to the
thermostat and manually lower it to 68. It gets cooler and you feel better. But your
thermostat is designed to “time out” if you will and return to the original programming
set at 72 degrees. Then you get too warm and you manually go and adjust it to 68 degrees again…and so on and so on and so on. It’s easy to see why someone might think that their Air Conditioner isn't working properly if they're constantly having to manually
adjust the thermostat. So, if you're constantly having to adjust yours, double check the
programmed settings to make sure it’s a temperature you're comfortable with. This will minimize your need to manually change it. Well there you have it, the 7 things homeowners
do to cause their own air conditioner problems.
I hope this information saves you from having
to call a technician out for help. But don’t forget your AC system has lots of moving parts and pieces. So if it wasn't one of these it may have been something else. If you've tried these steps and you still find yourself with an AC not cooling and you have to call and get some Air Conditioner troubleshooting help, whether it’s your neighbor or an Air
Conditioning Company, make sure they are a Certified HVAC technician – NATE certified
if possible. They should be able to get you up and going again pretty quick. If you’ve found this video helpful and entertaining,
give us a thumbs up.
If there’s anything else you’d like to know about how your electrical,
plumbing, heating or air conditioning systems work in your home, leave your suggestions
in the comments below. Don’t forget to subscribe so you get notifications
when the new videos come out. Have a great day and thanks for watching..