Can a Power Outage Hurt Your Air Conditioner?
Yes. If your air conditioner is running during a power outage, it can hurt the system as a whole. We’ve even seen power outages damage a furnace. When your air conditioner is running along normally and it abruptly shuts off due to a power outage, it can damage multiple components of your HVAC system.
The big motors in air conditioners are not designed to be running, quickly shut off, then quickly turn back on again.
What Kind of Damage Can Be Done To Your Air Conditioner Due to Power Outage?
We have seen total compressor failure, blower motor failure, and variable speed motor failure. Ultimately, if your air conditioner is running while the power goes out…many very expensive problems could result.
Steps to Restart Your A/C After A Power Outage
What are the steps you can take to see if there is damage to your air conditioner? Also how do you get it going again after a power outage?
If your air conditioner was abruptly shut off during a power outage, turn everything off for a little while. Let things settle down and even turn the breaker off, and unplug or switch off your furnace. Wait about 5 minutes and then try resetting everything by turning it back on. Sometimes this reset can help get your air conditioner going again. If it doesn’t come back on, you may have larger damage that needs to be addressed by a professional.
How to Protect Your Air Conditioner During a Power Outage
These new systems are much more sophisticated than they used to be. The sophistication is great for normal operation, but the new circuit boards and high end motors can’t anticipate quick power outages. That’s why surge protection and voltage monitoring detection is recommended.
You can purchase a surge protector specifically for your air conditioner. The surge protector goes outside by your ac unit and monitors voltage issues and will protect your ac if it detects a problem.
Should I Turn Off My AC During a Power Outage?
One simple piece of advice we give homeowners is that if you have a really bad storm, go to the thermostat and turn everything off. This could potential save your system from a major motor failure. Hopefully the storm passes before your home gets uncomfortable, but we’d say it is worth it to turn off your system during a thunder storm that is making your lights flicker.
Usually the major damage occurs when the unit is running.
Of course make your own decision on whether or not you want to turn off your air conditioner.
If your air conditioner is not working after a power outage and it is not coming back on, we hope you’ll schedule an appointment with us here.
