Air conditioner problems are a bit harder to diagnose than heater problems, at least for the untrained eye. There are a few symptoms that cross over. Lack of heating/cool air is a pretty obvious sign of trouble, for example. However, there are a lot of problem indicators that are specific to air conditioners. So, if you want to keep your air conditioner in good condition it’s a good idea to learn these unique indicators. Let’s take a look at some of them.
Ice
Air conditioners are supposed to keep your home cool, but there are limits to how much they can lower the temperature and still operate correctly. If you see ice on your air conditioner, it’s a sign that something has gone wrong. This can be caused by dirt on the coils or a low refrigerant level, both of which can lower the temperature below what it should be.
Once the ice has formed, it prevents the coils in the air conditioner from successfully drawing heat from the air. This causes your air conditioner to actually lose cooling ability, and can damage the coils on top of that. So, if you see ice forming on your AC, call for repairs.
Short-Cycling
Short-cycling is when your air conditioner keeps rapidly turning itself on and off during operation. This is an extremely harmful effect that can be caused by a few different factors. The compressor could be malfunctioning, which results in irregular pressure in the refrigerant line. The problem could also be located in the thermostat, which may have a faulty temperature sensor. Regardless of the cause, however, the behavior itself places the air conditioner under an extreme amount of stress. If the cause isn’t found and treated by a professional, you may have to replace part or all of the system.
Air conditioning repair is a broad topic, and not one that we can entirely cover in this post. If you suspect that your air conditioner might be malfunctioning for any reason, call Roznovak today. We offer air conditioning repair services throughout Austin, TX.
