ac not cooling / Furnace and Air Conditioner repair in Olathe, Overland Park, Lenexa, Shawnee, and Gardner

Air Conditioner Not Cooling Enough?

admin News May 7, 2019ac not cooling, ac not working, ac tune up, air conditioner maintenance, Air Conditioner Not Cooling Enough, air conditioner not keeping up, air conditioner not working, air conditioner tune up

Has this ever happened to you? Your air conditioner is running, but it is just not quite keeping the house at the temperature you want it to be. It always is working hard and not cooling the house enough. We get this question in many different forms and the answer as to why can vary.

Air Conditioner Not Cooling Enough?

Is there something you can do about your air conditioner not cooling enough or are you stuck with certain areas of your house never getting below 85 degrees in the summer time?

When it comes to your air conditioner, just about every symptom could have several different possible solutions. There’s always multiple explanations as to what could possibly be going on. For that reason before we get started fixing the problem, we need to cover our bases and get to the bottom of what is really causing the problem if your air conditioner is not cooling enough. The first thing you should do is to take an inventory of what is happening.

Take An Inventory Of What Is Going On With Your Air Conditioner

When you think you have a problem with your air conditioner the first thing to do is nothing. That’s right. Don’t touch anything. Just leave it alone and take an inventory of what is happening. Go to the thermostat. Is it set on cooling? What temperature is it set at versus what is the room temperature?

If you know the air conditioner is set to cool, and you can see that it is not getting to the set temperature, you know you have a problem.

What’s working and not working? Is the furnace blowing air inside? If you go over to a register and put your hand in front of it is it blowing air?

Now to the unit outside. Is it blowing air? There’s a little fan on the top or side of your air conditioner. Is that fan blowing or not blowing. If it is blowing air what is the temperature of that air? Hot or cold? If you know those things we can really help figure out what’s going on.

What Is The Temperature Of The Air Coming From The Outdoor Fan?

What difference does it make what the temperature is of the air coming off the outdoor unit fan? When you put your hand over the outdoor fan, the air coming from it is usually hot. What your are feeling is the heat that was inside now being pushed to the outside.

So, if you feel air coming for the outdoor fan and it feels cool instead of warm, that means the hot air is not being taken out of the inside of your house. Under normal circumstances the hot air from inside is rejected outside.

What Is The Solution To Your Air Conditioner Not Cooling Enough?

So let’s say everything appears to be working but just not quite cooling enough. Usually around 80% of the time it needs maintenance. A dirty coil for example, can cause your air conditioner to not be efficient and to not cool as much as when it is clean. Dirty filters will also cause your air conditioner’s performance to suffer and can cause a multitude of problems relating to efficiency. When the air is not allowed to circulate properly, your air conditioner will feel like it is not keeping up to the desired temperature especially in the heat of the summer.

The good news is that if your air conditioner is not cooling enough, a simple maintenance visit will more than likely fix the issue. However, we strongly recommend a trained professional to do the maintenance on your air conditioner. A maintenance visit and the complete cleaning of a cooling system involves high voltage electricity and refrigerants at high pressure. There are also many smaller components that can be damaged in the process of cleaning your air conditioner if you do not know how to do it properly.

So, if your air conditioner is not cooling enough, don’t fear the worst. It is probably something very simple that can be fixed during an air conditioner tune up or maintenance visit.

It is a good idea to get your air conditioner checked out if it is not cooling enough because it is currently using much more electricity that it needs. So it’s already costing you more money than it should, plus you’re not comfortable. Maintenance will help that a lot by cleaning up all of the components.

Check Your Air Conditioner Early In The Season Especially If You Think It May Have A Problem

In addition to getting an air conditioner maintenance and tune up to address the problem of your air conditioner not cooling enough, we recommend you do some in-house things to keep the cool air in your house. Take an inventory of your house to make sure you are not blocking registers or releasing the conditioned air. One common issue we see every summer is a customer complaining about the duct work sweating near the basement. Water dripping from the duct work isn’t normal and the issue is usually resolved by finding a basement window that got left open and closing it.

If a basement window is left open during the spring, it lets in an endless amount of humidity in your basement. This causes condensation to collect on everything that is cool and will cause things like the duct work to “sweat” and cause water issues in your basement.

Double Check Those Storm Windows

Another thing you can do on your own to make sure your air conditioner can keep the desired temperature is to make sure your storm windows are closed. If your storm windows are left open during the heat of the summer you go from what could be the equivalent of a double or triple pane glass to a single pane window. You don’t notice these things when it is 72 degrees outside, but you do when it is 100 degrees outside which can cause your air conditioner to not cool enough.

Why Does My Air Conditioner Leak Water?

admin announcements, News April 5, 2019April 6, 2019ac leaking water, ac not cooling, air conditioner icing up, air conditioner leak, air conditioner leaks water

Many people ask: Why is my air conditioner leaking water or icing up? If you see water leaking from your indoor coil or ice on your air conditioner it is having a problem. The main causes for this are: restricted airflow due to a blocked filter or ice forming, and an incorrect refrigerant charge that can cause ice to form and blow the air to your blower.

The Magic of Refrigeration

When the air conditioner is working normally, it is taking all the hot air from the inside of your home and blowing it across the cold coil that is located near the blower of your hvac system. Included in that hot air from your house is all the moisture and dirt that was in that air as well. When the air conditioner is working correctly that evaporator coil will condense that moisture and send it to the floor drain while the dry, cool air is sent back into your home making everything feel more comfortable. The dust and dirt from the air will be blocked by the furnace filter.

Your Air Conditioner Functions as a Giant De-Humidifier

When we take the moisture out of the air it feels more pleasant and your home will feel less muggy. Almost even more important than the temperature, a lack of humidity in the air makes your whole home more comfortable.

As that moisture is taken out of the air and blown across the cold coil, moisture can freeze to the coil turning it into a block of ice. If a block of ice forms on your evaporator coil, that will eventually restrict the airflow to the blower causing the entire system to malfunction.

Why Would The Coil Freeze?

An improper refrigerant charge. If you have an improper refrigerant charge it can cause the evaporator coil to become TOO COLD that will then cause the moisture taken out of the air to freeze to the coil instead of draining to the drain pan. This then causes a block to the airflow causing the system to shut down.

You will know this is happening if you hear the air conditioner running however you do not feel any airflow from the registers. That means there is a block in airflow. It is best to turn off the unit to melt the ice so your service technician can figure out what caused the initial problem. You can think of the block of ice as a symptom of a different problem that needs to be solved.

Refrigerant Leaks Cause Improper Refrigerant Charge

If your air conditioner was working fine last summer and this summer your refrigerant charge is off, that means there may be a leak somewhere. Your hvac system should be a closed system where the refrigerant doesn’t go back, stale or run out. If your system is low on refrigerant there is a leak. Oftentimes people want to fix the problem by recharging their air conditioner with more refrigerant. However that is not a fix. If you have an unrepaired leak and you add more refrigerant to your system, that means refrigerant is leaking out as soon as you put it in.

Recharging the air conditioner without fixing a leak is also not the least expensive repair option. Refrigerant has become extremely expensive depending on type. It is best to fix the leak first and then correct the refrigerant charge.

Restricted Airflow

An air conditioner can also “ice up” due to a blocked air filter. If an air filter is extremely dirty and plugged up, it can cause the same effect as a bad refrigerant charge to make the unit operate too cold and will form a block of ice.

Often when you see water dripping from the unit it is because the ice that had formed is thawing when the unit shuts off due to lack of airflow.

Until you thaw out and observe it operating, you won’t know why it is malfunctioning.

Keeping Water Where It Is Not Supposed To Be Can Be A Challenge

Water can cause many problems with your air conditioner. Another important issue is to make sure you are properly getting the water from your air conditioner to the drain in your basement. There is a drain pan that is paired with your cooling coil. It is important to keep that drain pan clean and unrestricted. If there is a clog in the drain pan or the hose from the unit to the pan that can also cause a water problem.

One thing to keep in mind is that your coil is in a cool, wet, dark place. It is very easy for the water draining from the evaporator coil to turn into very slimy stuff. You may have heard of “pan treatments” during your routine maintenance visits. A “pan treatment” will treat the water that sits in the drain pan that will help the drain line, hoses and pan cleared from plugs. The drain pan has an algaecide to combat the algae and will allow the water to drain properly.

A De-Humidifier Will Help With Unwanted Water On The Ductwork

When the air conditioner is running, the ductwork is cold and dark surrounded by warmer air. When the moisture from your home comes into contact with the cold ductwork, that can cause moisture to form on the outside of the ductwork. This problem can be solved with a whole home dehumidifier. A whole home dehumidifier can be attached to the ductwork or directly to areas that have the biggest moisture problems.

Moisture in a home knows no boundaries. If storage room is humid it’s getting into the rest of the house. If you dry out humid spots, it helps the whole house.

Dehumidifiers also give your air conditioner a break from bearing the sole responsibility of removing humidity from your home. With a dehumidifier you do not need to run the air conditioner as much to maintain a comfortable temperature. You can also keep your house a few degrees warmer and not run ac as much with a dehumidifier since a dehumidifier makes the air feel cooler. Since the dehumidifier runs independently from the air conditioner, on days where it is not hot, but humid, the home can be kept comfortable and yet not use the air conditioner at all.