An air conditioner unit has the potential to freeze. It’s a strange sight, especially in the middle of a hot summer day, but that’s when it’s most likely to happen. A frozen air conditioner is a common problem and can sometimes be fixed easily. Other times, however, you’ll need an air conditioner repair technician to take a look at it.
Central air conditioners have one primary job: to keep you comfortable. If your AC doesn’t do this and it is appropriately sized for your home, something is wrong. You have heard the advice to change your filters, keep it cleaned, and to have a smart thermostat, but did you know that air conditioners may also need to recharge? If your system has malfunctioned or has been damaged, your refrigerant may need to be recharged. Here’s what you need to know about recharging a home AC.
Throughout the years, we’ve seen and repaired a lot of AC problems. The more complex the system, the higher the potential for problems. Knowing the symptoms and what the problems are can potentially add a few years to the life of your system as you may be saving other parts in the process. Here is a list of the most common AC problems and their symptoms.
In the summertime, the heat brings humidity to many homes around the US. Humidity is a result of moisture in your home, which can come from a variety of sources. During summer, however, the weather brings moisture with it and combines with moisture you create in your home passively. Moisture can lead to health problems, such as allergic reactions to mold and mildew. Mold and other fungi are fond of wet areas, making your basement the ideal place to grow. Your AC does some dehumidification, but that’s not its primary function.
Air conditioners work by pulling air out of your home via return ducts, cooling the air, and then recirculating it throughout your home. But sometimes all your home needs is dehumidification. Along much of the East Coast, including Pennsylvania, Maryland, DC, Delaware, and New Jersey, a lot of our heat is unbearable because of the humidity levels in the air. The sticky, thick 90º weather is awful, but when the humidity finds its way inside our homes, sometimes all you need is the movement of air. Ceiling fans are a common choice in homes with temperatures around the upper 70ºs. A ceiling fan can reduce the temperature you feel in the room by up to 10º in some cases. But do air conditioners dehumidify your home or just cool it?
One of the main benefits of a geothermal heating system, besides economic friendliness, is a relative lack of maintenance. A majority of the geothermal components are buried underground so much like a radiant underfloor heating system: What you can’t see you can’t maintain (because the parts shouldn’t go wrong). The lack of maintenance perception is a common misnomer because all heating systems need regular upkeep, especially ones that feature a conventional duct work and air handler as the geothermal pumps do. The required maintenance shouldn’t be a deal breaker in purchasing a system though, because the savings still produce roughly $5 of heat for every $1 of cost. Here’s just an idea of what you should do and expect to maintain those high savings ratios:
With any forced air heating or cooling system, there’s going to be sounds associated with air flowing through the duct work, in fact, it’s one of the main reasons people opt for the quieter radiant heat in the winter. Some units give off a light whirl that is ignored as background noise after a homeowner becomes familiar with it, while others sound like an Airbus A350 preparing to leave the runway.
While the sound of airflow is a necessary evil with a forced air-conditioner, there are some other sounds that are an indicator that something may be malfunctioning within the system. One such racket is a persistent clicking noise that may develop within the air-conditioner over time. While the clicking noise isn’t as sinister as a loud banging or the crackling of fire coming from your utility room, it’s still important to be checked out for one of these main causes:
Leaks are generally never a good thing, whether you’re talking about a car tire, a hot air balloon, or important government documents. An area of the house that experiences leaks frequently is the air conditioner and, although it’s not quite as an imminent threat as a hot air balloon spiraling into a lake, the pooling of water near the A/C is something that should be tended to sooner rather than later as it can indicate a bigger problem.
The hot water heater is one appliance that we often take for granted. When you hop in the shower or in the bathtub you expect that when you turn the nozzle to “hot”, you’ll get hot water. For some homeowners, the water comes out cold because, quite simply, the water heater is completely off. Hot water heaters go off for a variety of reasons, but one of the most common reasons we find is the pilot light simply won’t stay on. Read More
Loud furnace noises come from all kinds of reasons. The problem is to understand the cause, and from there, see how the situation can be remedied. You may be able to fix some of the problems yourself; others will require the expertise of an HVAC specialist.
Loud noises coming from your furnace while it is running could be caused by any of a number of issues. For example, you may have a problem with the fan that blows hot air through your vents. That might be due to the fan bearings being worn out. In that case, these bearings will need to be replaced.
If your furnace is making a loud noise just as it starts, this could be caused by a serious problem called “delayed ignition.” This occurs when unburned oil builds up in the fire box chamber and is ignited all at once. This can be dangerous, and you should call a qualified HVAC specialist immediately. Read More
A furnace not kicking on is one of the most alarming things of the winter. There you are nestled in on a chilly winter night watching movies. You press the thermostat up a couple more times and nothing. What once was just a nuisance is quickly turning into a cause for panic as the potential dangers start to run in your head – what if the pipes freeze, what if your electronics are damaged, what if we freeze?
Ideally, the problem of your furnace not turning on will happen during the day and at the very beginning of the heating season. Unfortunately though that’s not always the case because of all the variables that could be causing the issue. Here are some potential causes and fixes of this very stressful scenario: Read More
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