Imagine what would happen if your air conditioner stopped working all of a sudden. This can lead you to a lot of trouble. The very first thing you can do after such a situation is to start troubleshooting. Let’s take a look at the steps that you should follow for troubleshooting.
- Did your air conditioner stop working all of a sudden? It the thermostat blank? Then there is a clog condensation in the drain line.
- Is your air conditioner blowing warm air? Then there is a bad capacitor inside the condensing unit.
- Isn’t your air conditioner capable of keeping your room cool? Then you are running low on refrigerant.
- Do you notice a banging sound or a burning smell in the ductwork? Then there is a falling or bad blower motor.
- Did your breaker trip when the air conditioner stopped working? Then you have a bad compressor or a condenser on the fan motor.
Bad Capacitor – The most common air conditioner issue
Find your outside unit (condenser) and check it out if your thermostat seems to be functioning correctly but the air coming from your vents is just not chilly. The fan motor and the compressor are the two parts. Both are audible to a trained ear. The compressor sounds like a deep hum, like a refrigerator operating, and the fan naturally generates a whirling noise. Your hand should feel warmer than the ambient air when you hold it over the fan. There is a significant probability that your capacitor is damaged if the outside unit is buzzing or humming but not turning or blowing.
The electric motors in your air conditioner are started and operated by capacitors. They specifically provide the motors a burst of energy during the first phase to get them going. Capacitors deteriorate with time, and if they are not replaced, they will ultimately blow and become unusable. This can sometimes lead to additional problems inside the device. You will usually have to spend around $150 to $300 to fix a bad capacitor.
Low Refrigerant
Your air conditioner’s refrigerant, most often R22 (Freon) or 410A (Puron), transports heat to keep your system cold. If the refrigerant level is too low, the system will have a hard time keeping up, it can freeze, and it won’t be able to adequately (or at all) chill your home.
Most low refrigerant situations involve a gradual leak, so if you pay attention, the symptoms become worse and worse. You could find that when the temperature you’ve selected rises, your air conditioner runs longer and longer.
The issue is that there is a reason your system is short on refrigerant. It is not difficult to add extra refrigerant to have your system cooling correctly again. Even if the leak is gradual, refrigerant is still leaking in some way. This often happens in the evaporator coil, therefore if the leak is large enough, it can be best to either replace the evaporator coil or, if the system is sufficiently old, the whole system. You will have to spend $150 per pound for R22 refrigerant and $70 per pound for Puron. On top of that, you will have to pay the repair fee.
Clogged Drain Line
Your house is dehumidified as it is being cooled. Moisture is eliminated concurrently with the cooling of the air. That moisture has to be adequately captured and drained away from your home. A PVC drain line is then routed from your system to the outside after installation, and everything is good. The issue is that as time goes on, algae and other substances tend to constrict and plug the drain line, preventing effective drainage.
If this occurs, instead of soaking through your roof or dripping down the floor, it begins to back up within the unit and finally fills up a secondary drain pan. When they fill up, a safety switch in these auxiliary drain pans will turn the unit off. The present code also mandates the use of a “SS2” safety switch, which is intended to turn off even before any water spills into the safety pan.
Depending on how it is connected, the safety switch can cause a number of different things to happen. Most often, the safety switch will cut off the power to the thermostat, causing it to become blank. Alternately, the condensing unit can be off, but the blower and thermostat would still be on.
You can locate your air-handler/evaporator and check for appropriate drainage by raising the SS2 switch or searching for water in the pan if you’re feeling brave. You’ve identified the issue if the appliance turns on when you raise the SS2 switch or if water is visible in the pan. Although you can try to clear the drain line on your own, professionals often utilize compressed air or other techniques to get things moving. You will usually have to spend above $150 to fix this type of an issue.
Failing Blower Motor
Inside your home’s ductwork, air is moved by your blower motor. While rather dependable, blowers nevertheless rank in the top 5 in terms of repair costs. They often reside in hot or humid environments and sometimes don’t get the love and care they need, such as lubricating their bearings or keeping them clear of dirt and debris. Older motors also feature capacitors to aid in starting, and when these capacitors become older or wear out, the motor is put under more stress during starter.
The blower is most likely to blame if you notice an electrical burning smell in your ducting or hear spinning pounding or grinding noises. You can’t really repair anything on your own, but you should switch off your air conditioner to avoid any more harm or potential fire. You will at least have to spend $800 to $900 to fix this type of an issue.
Bad condenser fan motor or compressor
Perhaps it is unfair to group them together, but taken as a whole, they count as a top air conditioning repair. Your HVAC system’s outside “condensing unit” houses both components. It’s probable that either your compressor or condenser fan motor is broken if you don’t hear both operating when your system is on, you have a tripped breaker, or you hear screaming or grinding. These motors often fail in one of three ways:
A winding (internal wire that generates a magnetic field when power is provided) can get shorted to ground when it contacts the casing or the ground. Your breaker will trip as a result and not reset.
A wind barrier that prevents electricity from passing through the motor correctly results in open winding. The motor is broken and won’t spin, but it won’t trip a breaker.
The bearings reduce friction so that the motor can spin easily. When a bearing wears out, it makes a screaming or grinding sound. When a compressor’s valves can no longer maintain pressure, they start to malfunction (modern scroll compressors are essentially one huge valve). The refrigerant can hiss or whine when it escapes from an area that has to be sealed.
You won’t be able to accomplish much on your own in any of these situations, so you’ll need to present yourself professionally. For compressor repairs, you will have to spend around $1,200 to $1,500. Likewise, you will have to spend around $700 to $900 for the condenser fan motor repairs.
