HVAC specialist Derek Cole breaks down seven common AC failures: clogged filters, blocked drain lines, refrigerant leaks, dirty coils, failing motors, thermostat mistakes, and loose electrical connections. Replace filters every three months and schedule professional tune-ups before summer heat spikes.
Your AC system is like your body. Your body is a closed system. You know, I shouldn't be bleeding out of my arm right here. If I'm bleeding out of my arm, I should fix the leak, right? I should fix the leak. Hey, what's up? Thank you for joining us today. We're going to talk about the 7 most common AC repairs in the summer Let's get into it. Number 1, clogged filter. This is the biggest problem and one of the most simple to fix. A clogged air filter restricts airflow and causes your unit to have a problem. A good rule of thumb, check your filter every single month. If it needs to be replaced, replace it. If it's dirty, replace it. Now, every 3 months, whether dirty or not, replace it. Always keep that in your mind. Get an alert on your phone, get an alarm on your phone, whatever needs to happen. According to Energy Star, this activity all by itself, changing your filter, is one of the most important things you can do yourself for your home. So number 1, clogged air filter. Number 2, clogged condensate drain line. We're in North Carolina, it gets hot, it gets humid. We're in the summertime, it has to dehumidify. The AC unit dehumidifies. What happens when it dehumidifies is it creates moisture, creates water and that water has to leave the system and go outside because you don't want the water inside. So that drain line has not been used for a while. It is probably dry. Things may have gotten into it. It needs to be cleaned out because once it starts producing moisture, it has nowhere to go. It gets clogged, and when it gets backed up, it hits your ceiling It hits your drain pan, it's your floor, all kind of bad things can happen. So make sure your drain line is clear. Take some water, send it down the drain line, make sure it's draining properly. Also, this can be done with the maintenance. Make sure your unit is maintenance before it gets to that point to cause that damage. Number 3, Refrigerant leaks. Refrigerant leaks. Now, if the refrigerant is low, it has trouble removing heat and putting it outside where you want it to be. You don't want to be inside your house. Now, a common misconception is that I need a little bit of Freon, I need a couple pounds of Freon. That shouldn't be happening. You have a closed system. Your AC system is like your body. Your body is a closed system. You know, I shouldn't be bleeding out of my arm right here. If I'm bleeding out of my arm, I should fix the leak, right? I should fix the leak. You should fix the leak if you have a refrigerant leak. If you're constantly needing 1-2 pounds of refrigerant every single year You have a leak, you need to get it fixed. Okay, I don't go to a doctor and say I need a refill on my blood because I keep leaking blood. The doctor is going to say, what are you doing? Fix the leak, I can't keep giving you blood. Same thing with refrigerant. It's not gonna use up the refrigerant, it's not going to use it all up. It's a closed system. It shouldn't be leaking out. If it is leaking out, you have a problem. You need to find the leak, fix the leak. It's going to save you— not only is it going to save you money from having to add refrigerant, it's also going to save you money on energy because that system is no longer running low for a period of time. So just like you running low on blood, you're not gonna, you know, run at peak levels, your system, a low refrigerant, will not run at peak levels. Number 4, dirty outdoor coils. The outdoor coil has one job, is to remove heat from the home. Okay, if it's clogged up with the grass clippings and dust and dirt and, uh, tree pollen and all these other things, is going to prevent it from doing its job. Efficiently, right? So it's kind of like you going in July with a blanket wrapped around you trying to cool off. It's going to be really hard to do because just take the blanket off and that's going to be better. Your system will run efficiently if it had a clean outdoor coil. So get the outdoor coil clean again, get that maintenance done, have a professional check it and to make sure good. The blower motor moves conditioned air from the unit into the home. The capacitor runs the motor. So if any of that breaks down, you're going to have a cooling problem. Again, those can be checked on a maintenance. Those should be looked at because a capacitor itself can run weak when the airflow problems happen, dirty coils happen, Everything gets neglected. These components, motors and capacitors, have to work harder. Again, under maintenance they can be checked and they can be— a lot of times they can be seen to almost start failing before they actually stop. Number 6, thermostat problems. Thermostat problems. We go to a lot of homes— well, I won't say a lot, quite a few homes where the thermostat is a problem, and the problem is it's in the wrong mode. It's in heat mode and you want cooling. So rule of thumb, check your thermostat to make sure it's set to the temperature you want and it's set to the mode you want before you call for that service to come, because that could save you quite a bit of money and quite a bit of trouble. Double-check your thermostat, double-check your setting. And finally, number 7, electrical connections. Electrical connections. This, unlike a dirty filter, um, even a drain line, you want a professional to look at these connections. Uh, the system has so many electrical connections throughout. Over time, they wear. Over time, with vibration heat, moisture, these connections can become loose. They need to be checked. Again, maintenance is very important because these electrical connections can be checked by a professional as a part of that maintenance. Something very important, something overload, something that should be done by a professional, not by you, the homeowner. When I look back at the most common air conditioner needs throughout the summer, You see a pattern after, what, 25 years in the business. You start noticing things because most of them begin before a homeowner notices a problem. Dirty filters, clogged drain lines, everything I listed as the 7 is a common occurrence, and for the most part, they can be caught before the summer with proper maintenance. So get that unit checked out by a pro. Get it handled by a professional, not just anybody, a professional. Get them to come out with the checklist to go through your system so you know exactly what you're getting with the maintenance, with the tune-up, whatever it is. Get it checked out because some of these problems can be prevented, and that makes for a much cooler summer.
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