Your air conditioner does its best to keep you cool and comfortable when it’s hot outside – until one morning it can’t answer the bell and you’re left with a cooling system that either blows hot air or won’t run at all. Before you contact an A/C service company , it pays to do a little troubleshooting – the problem could be one you can solve yourself without paying extra. Here’s a guide for what to do if your air conditioner isn’t working the way it should:
If your cooling system won’t run:
- Make sure your thermostat setting is:
- Set for “air conditioning”, “cool,” or “fan” – not “on” or “heat” (if a thermostat is set for “on,” your blower will continue to run even when cool air is not being produced).
- Set to at least 5 degrees below the current room temperature.
- Check circuit breakers or fuses.
- Circuit breakers and fuses are designed to shut off an overloaded circuit automatically to prevent a fire; this can happen with your air conditioner’s circuit. Check to see if the circuit has been tripped or the fuse has been blown.
- Check all power switches.
- Check the power switch next to the outdoor (condenser) unit.
- Check the power switch for the indoor (evaporator/blower) unit.
If your cooling system works but blows warm air:
- Check your thermostat settings (see #1 above).
- Clear away furniture, rugs , and other airflow constricting obstructions from in front of vents.
- Check all power switches.
- Check the condenser to see if it’s running. If it isn’t:
- Check the power switch (see above).
- Check the condenser’s circuit breaker (see above).
- Check for debris inside the condenser (TURN OFF THE POWER FIRST!).
- Check the indoor unit.
- Make sure the power switches are on.
- Check your air filters; if they’re clogged, clean or replace them and try again.