Posted by ‘Cause you’re hot, then you’re cold
You’re yes, then you’re no
You’re in, then you’re out
You’re up, then you’re down
You’re wrong when it’s right…
The only time any of that is fun is if you are singing along with Katy Perry with the car windows down, garnering weird looks from strangers at stoplights. If you’re singing that tune to your AC in the middle of a Kansas heatwave, you have troubles.
This summer has been especially brutal with high temps and high humidity. That means we expect more from our AC units. For some reason, it seems this kind of system never goes down on a mild Monday morning. They like to wait until after hours to make you really appreciate what they do for you.
There are two parts to an AC unit:
The inside piece, evaporator coil, and the outside piece, condenser.
A common issue we see with AC during extreme heat is a frozen condenser unit. This results in warm air or no air coming out of the vents.
When it gets hot inside, we tend to want to turn the thermostat down in hopes of making it comfortable. It’s important to remember the AC, though a magical machine, can only drop the temp in the house between 15-20 degrees. If it’s 100° outside, 80-85° is about the lowest you can reasonably expect to see on the indoor thermometer.
Setting your thermostat below 67° is not recommended.
Just because you tell the thermostat you want 67° inside the house, doesn’t mean it’s going to deliver. Like that time I told my husband I wanted a donut from QuickTrip and he came back with a taquito. Your AC means well, but it can only do its best for you.
The number one reason we see for frozen condensers is blocked airflow.
Airflow is the backbone of the entire HVAC system. If the air can’t move through the system freely, the HVAC can’t adequately do its job.
Furnace Filters
I know I’m a nag about furnace filters. Those guys don’t look like much but they do a lot for you. They can only work if air can flow through them.
There’s no magic number for how often a furnace filter should be changed. At the minimum, you should change them every 3 months. However, depending on a variety of factors, you may need to change yours more frequently. Give it a peek once a month. If it looks dirty, change it! If you notice dust settling around the house, even though you’ve cleaned, you probably need to change your filter. Pet owners will most likely need to change theirs more frequently.
When the HVAC can’t breath, the warm air from the house can’t properly move through the coil so the coolant temp drops. The humidity in the air creates moisture on the coil and the air begins to freeze. Voilà, you have a block of ice, but no cool air. This is the same effect a dirty condenser has on the system. If you notice a layer of dust bunnies collecting on the outside unit, it needs to be cleaned. We ask renters to put in a maintenance request when they see this kind of build up.
Blocks of ice on the condenser
You can usually see the block of ice that forms on the back of the condenser unit outside. If you suspect (or see) that your AC has frozen, there’s a few steps you can take.
The system has to be thawed. An HVAC tech can’t do anything to repair the system if it’s frozen. So, you might wait a day for the tech to come out, only to tell you they have to come back tomorrow after the system has thawed. I know it’s painful to think about in times like this, but the first thing you need to do is turn off the AC system and turn on the fan. This moving air helps to thaw within a few hours. While you are waiting for that, take a look at your filter. If you don’t have a back up filter on hand, now might be a good time to go out to the store to get one. (Bonus, they have AC working there.)
An AC unit that’s not working when you want it to is frustrating. I’ve actually found that people are more patient with no heat in the dead of winter than they are with no AC in the summer.
Simple things like changing the filter as needed, and making sure the condenser is clean, go a long way to keeping that system happy so it can be there for you when you need it. Instead of singing Katy Perry, you will be celebrating good times with Kool and the Gang!
So the next time your AC starts acting like a moody pop song, hot one minute, cold the next, you’ll know exactly where to look. Check that filter, peek at the condenser, and give the system a little grace when the heat is doing its worst. A few minutes of maintenance now can save you a very sweaty, very frustrating night later. And if your unit still won’t cooperate after all that, and you are a Home Rental Services client, don’t wait it out, give us a call. We’d rather help you stay cool than hear you belt out Katy Perry to your thermostat at 2 a.m.
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