Troubleshooting Common Problems with your Air Conditioner

When your aircon breaks down, it's a huge pain, especially when you think about how much it's gonna cost to get it fixed. Then you have to make an appointment with an air conditioning technician, only to find out it was something you could've fixed yourself. To help elevate this stress we will go through some of the common problems our air conditioner techs see, what causes them and some things you can do to fix them or help minimise your risk of them happening.

So what are some of these problems we see regularly?

Air Conditioner Not Turning On

When this happens to you our team suggests you do the following things:

1. Check the batteries in the remote.
2. Try turning the machine on at the unit (on the face of a split system or the wall-mounted controller in a ducted system).
3. Check that the outdoor and indoor units are plugged in and turned on at the wall. Most air conditioners plug into a conventional wall socket which means they can be unplugged cutting the power from the system and stopping it from running.
4. Check the circuit breaker and try to reset it as it may have tripped. If it trips again there may be an electrical fault in the system and you will need to contact a technician.
5. Check for signs of animals in the system. Animals like geckos and mice can chew through cables or short out circuit boards frying the system's electricals. If you believe this is what happened you will need to contact a technician.

These are some of the common troubleshooting tips we use to work out why your system isn't turning on and remedy the fault. If these tips don't work you will need to contact one of our technicians as the fault is more advanced or will require specialist tools and techniques to repair.

Aircon Running Intermittently

If your air conditioner is sporadically turning off and on it can be due to a few things from a broken thermostat to frozen evaporator coils. Some troubleshooting tips to work out what's wrong and try to fix the system are:

1. Check the thermostat for damage a broken thermostat will confuse the system's computer causing it to turn on and off sporadically.
2. Check the evaporator coils inside the indoor unit for ice or ice on the refrigerant lines of the system. This will mean that the system can’t run efficiently and will cause it to still blow air but the cooling will be intermittent.
3. Check that your airconditioner is in the right setting either heating or cooling or dry mode if you are removing moisture from your home as some modes can cause the system to turn on and off more.

Increased Electricity Bills

It is a good idea to keep an eye on your electricity usage on each bill and how often you use energy-hungry appliances such as your aircon or computers as an unexpected spike in your usage can mean an appliance in your home is broken or running inefficiently. To work out if it might be your aircon there are a few things to look for:

1. Build up of dirt, dust and other debris within your system these buildups can restrict airflow and reduce the surface area of the evaporator and condenser coils dramatically reducing the efficiency of your system.
2. It can also be caused by low refrigerant levels this one is really hard to check without a technician however one thing you can look for is whether the aircon blows cool air; if it isn't cooling it most likely means your refrigerant levels are too low.

Smelly Air Conditioning

This one is most often caused by a dirty air conditioner as mould and fungi love to grow in the dust that builds up in air conditioners. They can also be caused by dead animals or animal excrement in your air conditioning system when these things occur it is best to get an aircon technician in to fix your system as your system will most likely require a deep clean and will need to be inspected for any damage that it may have caused. To try and minimise your risk of this we recommend having your system cleaned and serviced at least once a year to keep the system running optimally.

Air Conditioner Not Blowing Cool Air

Last but not least is an air conditioner not blowing cool air or only blowing hot air. This is one of the most common aircon problems our team see and it can be due to a few things:

• Faulty thermostat
• Dirty system
• Frozen refrigerant lines
• Low refrigerant levels

The most common cause is low refrigerant levels as the refrigerant is what an air conditioner uses to cool the air. A refrigerant leak can only be fixed by an ARCtick licensed technician as the refrigerants used are highly dangerous. To rule out the other three possible causes we suggest you troubleshoot the following:

1. Check that the air conditioner unit isn't dirty and the evaporator coil is clean of debris
2. Check the refrigerant lines for ice or excess condensation.
3. Check for damage to the air conditioner thermostat

If these all seem normal then it is most likely the refrigerant levels and you will need an air conditioning technician to come and fix your system.

If these troubleshooting tips didn't work then you need a licensed air conditioner technician and when it comes to air conditioning technicians look no further than All Purpose Trade Solutions. Our team will work with you to get your air conditioner back up and running as it should.

Refrences:

11 common air conditioner problems & how to fix them | Canstar Blue