Derek Cole walks through six reasons your AC blows hot air: wrong thermostat settings, low refrigerant from leaks, a broken outdoor condenser, dirty filters, a frozen evaporator coil, or electrical problems. Most need a professional, but check your thermostat and filter first.
Home and Life Comfort with Derrick Cole. Hey, what's up everyone? Derek Cole here. And today we're talking about a question I get all the time when the heat outside cranks up, which is why is my air conditioner blowing hot air? Why is my air conditioner blowing hot air? Go turn on the AC. It's 90 degrees outside, expanding that cool relief and bam. Hot air comes out. Not fun. Especially when it's very, very nasty outside. 90 degrees, 70% humidity. It's terrible. Let's get into a few reasons why, why this might be happening and what you can do about it. Number one, thermostat trouble. First of all, double check your thermostat. I know it sounds crazy, but it happens. Double check your thermostat. Make sure it's set to cool and not heat or the fan is on. You'll be amazed how often that's the issue. Instead of the fan being on auto, the fan is on circling the 90 degree weather outside along with the humidity. Or the thermostat is actually on the wrong mode. It's actually not on cool mode. It's on heat. So number one, thermostat trouble. Double check your thermostat. Make sure that is not the simple fix simple issue. Again. You will be surprised at how often we are seeing that happen. Number two, low refrigerant. Refrigerant isn't like gas in your car, okay? It doesn't get used up. If it's low, you have a leak and no, you just don't add a little bit every year. It needs to be topped off. I need a couple pounds of refrigerant. No you don't. What are you talking about? Stop thinking that way. If you're low refrigerant, you have a leak. And no, every year is not normal. It's like having a hole in your gas tank. You don't just keep putting more gas in. No, you fix the leak. That is the more economical and fix versus doing what we call a band aid repair, which is ignore the leak, keep adding refrigerant, keep adding gas and we might get through another summer. No, refrigerant isn't like gas in your car. It's not going to be used up. Is a closed system. It is a closed system like your body refrigerant being low means you have a leak. Fix the leak. Number three, outdoor unit isn't running. You might have heard blowing inside. But if the outdoor condenser isn't running, no cool air is getting made. Could be a trip breaker. It could be a capacitor, it could be a contactor. This is a very common issues, all fixable, but it needs a professional to come look at it. You do not need to be doing that. Repair number four, dirty air filter. We've already, we've already seen this, guys. We've already seen this. A dirty air filter chokes your system, hurts the airflow efficiency and can even cause it to freeze up. That will cause you to have an AC problem. That leads really into number five, which is a frozen coil. Some of you have seen this on units before. You go outside, you see it's frozen. You see freezing around the lines going under house or in the attic. What is going on there? That's a problem. Okay? That's what's going on. When it melts, you get hot air and a soggy mess. Usually caused by low refrigerant or poor airflow. These go back to the first four I talked about. Could be a frozen coal. Frozen coal. It could be because of a dirty filter or it could be lower refrigerant. Those are things most likely to cause a frozen coil. Number six. And finally, electrical issues. Sometimes it's just a blown fuse or electrical short. The indoor fan runs, the outdoor unit doesn't. Systems trying but not cooling. Bottom line, your system is talking to you. Your system is talking to you. Don't ignore it. The hot air could be an early warning sign. And waiting or hoping could cost you more in the long run. We are here to help. If you're in the Fayetteville pioneers Longborough Sanford area, just give us a call. Simmons1hour.com will find the problem fast, get you back to cool and treat your home like it's our own. Your friend in comfort and energy savings, Derek Cole. Home and life Comfort with Derek Cole.
