Common Air Conditioner Problems
Air conditioners are complex mechanical systems that depend on a wide variety of conditions to work correctly. Properly maintained systems keep efficiency ratings at factory specifications. Air conditioning systems are sized to meet calculated loads for the house or business. They are designed to have certain amounts of freon refrigerant, known as the charge. Systems are also designed to have a certain amount of airflow across the coils. When any of these things change your system will have problems.
If you produce more heat indoors due to having more people, appliances or because of changes in the house or business environment, the air conditioning may not be able to keep up. Upgraded high-efficiency HVAC systems will increase the comfort of indoor environments.
If the refrigerant charge on the air conditioning system leaks out, it reduces the capacity of the system. This results in less cooling and your air conditioning system will not be able to keep up when the load increases. If your system begins leaking freon refrigerant, it is time for replacement with an energy-saving high-efficiency HVAC system.
If airflow across the condenser coil is reduced, the ability to disperse heat outdoors is reduced and the capacity of the system will diminish, especially at higher outdoor temperatures. Yearly maintenance will keep airflow optimized. These same issues occur with the evaporator coil: higher air flow helps, lower air flow hurts. If the air flow gets too low, the evaporator coil will freeze. This makes performance worse and can damage the compressor until it fails – leaving you with an expensive repair bill. Changing your HVAC air filter regularly combined with yearly maintenance will keep your cooling system running at peak performance. Proper airflow is important for increased efficiency and utility cost savings.
