Why is my AC Failing?

• Turning your A/C on too late in the day:  Many customers assume since they are not at home during the day, “why run the a/c”?  Once it gets into the 90-100’s, the A/C’s job is to ‘condition’ the air, not cool it.  If you wait until 5 pm to turn it on and it’s already 81º in the house and 96º outside; then your a/c is going to run into problems.  The outdoor unit is drawing in the outside air to cool down the compressor, then it shoots it straight out the top via the fan.  Once the A/C turns on, it is breathing in 81 degree heat through the system inside, while the outdoor unit is drawing in 96 outside.  This is going to take all night to cool the home down to 73º.  This puts extreme amount of stress on the compressor and shortens the life span.  We ask customers to set their a/c at 5 degrees over their desired temp during the day if they are not home.  I leave mine at 78º.  Once it gets hotter than 78 in the home, the a/c kicks on and maintains that temp throughout the day.  When I get home, I push it down to 74 and it gets there within a half hour.
• Setting your thermostat too low:  This is the most common practice with our customers.  When it gets to 100º outside, suddenly everyone wants their house at 62º (a little exaggerated).  An air conditioner is only supposed to run at 25º of ambient temperatures.  When it is 100, the lowest you should set your stat is 75º.  We lock out the thermostats at 68º because that is the lowest they can operate per manufacture guidelines.  Running your air conditioner at temps over 25 degrees of ambient, or under 68; the compressor wears out and shortens the life span.  Think of it as driving straight up a steep incline, pedal to the medal; just revving the engine as hard as you can.
• Lack of maintenance:  If you have never had your air conditioner (A/C) serviced, you may run into problems when you need your A/C the most.  Having a licensed HVAC service tech go through your system every 2-3 years will save you last minute emergency service calls.  Our techs clear out the drain lines as spider nests, leaves, acorns, etc. can get stuck in there and back up the condensate lines.  This leads to water leaks at your furnace location.  Our techs inspect the capacitors, electrical connections and compressor amp draws.  This will catch any items that could “pop” or short out the system when it is 100 outside.  Finally, our techs check refrigerant levels.  If you notice the system not cooling or keeping up “like it used to”, you may have developed a pin-hole leak in the refrigeration system.  These leaks could go really quick, or take years.  Either way, your system should not be leaking and our techs can spot the leaks.
• Dirty Filters: Although we change filters during maintenance, the homeowner should really be monitoring their filter on a monthly basis.  We like to put our filters at the filter grilles inside, or in a 4” tall filter cabinet at the furnace location.   Having a plugged up filter will decrease the amount of return air the system can “suck in”.  The unit needs to suck (or breathe in) air, in order to supply it back out through the vents.  If the system cannot breath because the filter is plugged up, then the unit shuts down and you’re stuck sweating in the blistering heat.  Change your dirty filters.
• Pets (mainly dogs):  We run into this quite a bit actually.  Usually larger dogs want to exuberate their dominance by fighting over the outdoor air conditioner with their urine.  If you have large dogs that tend to pee on or near the a/c, it deteriorates the coil and leads to a leak.  The leak leads to no refrigerant.  No refrigerant leads to a very hot house, on a very hot day.  Very hot houses lead to unhappy spouses.  Unhappy spouses leaves you in the doghouse.

Contact us today for more information on why your AC system may be failing.