It can be incredibly frustrating if your air conditioning suddenly starts putting out warm air or isn’t cooling your house evenly, especially on those hotter summer days when the temperature creeps up above 30°C. AC systems are more complex than many people realize, and various issues can lead to poor performance, weak airflow or insufficient cooling output. We’ll cover the most common issues you may encounter so that you will know if you may be able to fix your AC yourself or you need to call a professional technician for repair or maintenance.
Clogged Air Filter
Any time your AC system isn’t performing as it should, the first thing to do is shut the system off and then pull out the air filter to see how dirty it is. If the filter has started to turn dark or is caked with a thick layer of dust, hair and debris, replace it, and then turn the AC back on to see if it now performs better.
An overly dirty, clogged filter always decreases an AC system’s performance, as it restricts the amount of air the blower can draw in. With restricted airflow, you’ll commonly encounter issues like the incoming air not getting sufficiently cooled or the system not cooling every part of the house evenly. The system also has to run longer to cool the house to the set temperature, making it use more energy and experience increased wear and tear.
If your AC system uses standard 1-inch disposable filters, never go longer than 90 days without swapping out the old filter with a new one. If you have a reusable filter, check it frequently, and wash it as needed. During the middle of summer, you may need to replace or wash the filter every six weeks or so to avoid clogging and negatively impacts on your AC system’s performance. That’s because the more the system runs each day, the faster the filter will start clogging. Pet hair will also cause a filter to clog more quickly.
Insufficient Airflow to the Outdoor Unit
The next thing to do is go outside and check and make sure no debris is clogging the sides of the outdoor unit, and no vegetation is encroaching on it. For an AC system to cool properly, the fan needs to continually pull sufficient air through the outdoor unit. This air is what allows the heat the system removed from inside the house to flow out with the refrigerant.
Condensed refrigerant, pumped through the condenser coil, instantly boils and changes into a superheated gas that’s much hotter than the outdoor air. When the refrigerant then travels through the condenser coil, all the heat it contains naturally flows out into the air blowing across the coil.
If the fan isn’t blowing sufficient air across the coil, the refrigerant retains quite a bit of latent heat when it returns inside the house. That means it isn’t able to capture as much heat, so the incoming air doesn’t cool as much as it should. In some cases, the temperature may only drop by a few degrees, resulting in the air blowing out of the vents feeling rather warm.
Dirty Coils
The evaporator coil inside the house and the condenser coil outdoor both play critical roles in facilitating the heat transfer process that an AC system uses to cool. If either or both coils are overly dirty, with dust or dirt covering them, the heat transfer process cannot work as effectively. The layer of dust or dirt insulates the coil, blocking air from directly coming into contact with the copper refrigerant lines. A dirty evaporator coil reduces the amount of heat the refrigerant can absorb, while a dirty condenser coil blocks heat from being released. The condenser coil’s placement outside makes it prone to dirt and debris buildup, especially during prolonged periods without any rain.
A professional should always handle coil cleaning due to the risk of bending the fins or damaging the copper lines. It’s also one of the most important parts of routine AC maintenance, and you should schedule it every year before it gets hot enough to turn your air conditioning on.
Closed or Obstructed Vents
The last thing to check before calling in a professional is that the vents or registers in every room are open, and no furniture or other items are blocking the airflow. It’s a common misconception that closing some of the supply vents helps make an AC system work more efficiently and cool the main parts of the house faster. When you close vents and block off the airflow, you actually make the system work harder and prevent it from evenly circulating air around the house. The latter issue often results in hot spots in certain areas of the home.
In this situation, the closed vents throw off the balance between the incoming warm air and the outgoing cool air. Some of the cool air gets trapped in the supply ducts, eventually restricting how much warm air the blower can draw in through the return vents and ducts. By keeping all vents open and free of obstructions, your AC will use less energy and provide more even, effective cooling.
Insufficient Refrigerant Charge
This last issue is the most serious one. The refrigerant flows through an AC system in a closed loop, meaning the level should always remain the same. If the refrigerant level or charge is low, it almost always means that there’s a leak in one of the coils or one of the copper lines. Finding and fixing a refrigerant leak is difficult and can be quite costly, especially if either coil is leaking and needs a replacement. After locating the leak, the technician first has to drain and capture all the remaining refrigerant before they can move on to resolving the problem. They then have to recharge the system with additional refrigerant, which can be incredibly expensive if you have an older system that uses R-22 refrigerant (Freon).
If an AC system doesn’t have the proper refrigerant charge, it can’t capture as much heat as it should. That means the incoming air doesn’t cool sufficiently, so the system takes much longer to cool the house to the set temperature. If the refrigerant charge is much too low, the system won’t cool at all. Instead, it will continually circulate warm air around the house.
Burgess Plumbing Heating & Electrical Co Ltd is a family-owned and -operated company that’s been serving BC home and business owners since 1953. We specialize in AC repair, and our experienced technicians can quickly identify and fix any problem you’re experiencing. We’re also the trusted source for AC maintenance in Williams Lake, 100 Mile House and the surrounding parts of the Cariboo Region.
To schedule service to get your AC cooling properly again, contact our team at Burgess Plumbing Heating & Electrical Co Ltd today.
