Ideas For Central Air Conditioning Troubleshooting

A central air conditioner is a unit that efficiently cools a home or office. These can be lifesavers in the summer. But when a unit is not working right, repairs can be costly. If you have a central air conditioning unit that is not operating properly, you might be able to pinpoint the problem before calling in a professional. Following a few easy Central Air Conditioning Troubleshooting tips could end up saving you time and money. You may even be able to solve the problem yourself.

Central Air Conditioning Troubleshooting can be done for a number of reasons. If your unit is not running at all and there is no display showing on the digital thermostat, check the breaker box. Chances are a breaker might have been tripped. If this is the case, reset the breaker and turn on the unit. If it operates properly, then the breaker might have tripped from too much power being pulled at one time. If the breaker trips again, then call a professional because there is an underlying problem. Central air conditioners have drain lines that can become clogged. If your unit is not running or not cooling properly, check the drain lines. If they are clogged, you can clean them yourself and save some money. But if you are unfamiliar with this process, call a professional.

If your unit is on but no air is blowing out of the vents, this indicates a possible problem with the blower motor. Listen for the hum of the motor. If you cannot hear the motor running or if you smell a burning odor, shut the unit off. More than likely, you will need a new blower motor. Fan motors on central air conditioning units can also fail. You can go to the outside unit and see if the fan is spinning. If it is not spinning, then you probably need a new fan motor. If it is spinning, but the air coming out of the supply vents is not cool and there is cold air coming from the top of the condensing unit, you may have a bad compressor. In all of these cases, shut the unit down immediately and call a professional to make the needed repairs. Following these Central Air Conditioning Troubleshooting tips might allow you to fix the problem yourself or at least be able to better inform a licensed heating and cooling technician of the problem.