Living in Miami and the surrounding areas has its fair share of perks. The weather is (usually) one of them. That said, there are plenty of days that many of us stay holed up indoors and thank our lucky stars that we have powerful air conditioners.
Maybe today is one of those days. Or maybe today is one of those days that you want to be thankful for your AC but it isn’t working up to par. In either case, we have some information that will interest you. We want to give you a quick crash course on how your AC works so you can better understand what it’s should and shouldn’t do
How Your Central AC Should Work
So, how does your air conditioner do what it does? Here’s a brief description for you:
- When things get too hot, you turn on the thermostat which gets things going for your AC.
- Your air conditioner begins to cycle refrigerant, sending it into the evaporator coil.
- The system’s fans pull in hot air from the home at the same time, passing it over the evaporator coil and allowing the heat in the air to be absorbed into the refrigerant.
- The now cooled air is blown back into the home through your ductwork while the gaseous refrigerant is sent back into your outdoor condenser unit where it is condensed back into a liquid state allowing it to release the heat it absorbed back outside.
It’s a rough description but hopefully, this gives you a basic understanding of how your AC runs. What’s more, knowing that this is how your AC is meant to work will help you be more alert when something goes wrong.
How To Tell Something Isn’t Right With Your Cooling System
Central air conditioning systems are powerful but they aren’t invincible. Time and heavy use will take their toll on your AC and lead to inefficiencies and repair needs. Now that you know how your AC should work, these issues are likely to be a bit more obvious if and when they pop up:
- Refrigerant leaks: Characterized by hissing, bubbling, and system short cycling, a refrigerant leak can cause serious issues for your system if not caught early enough.
- Ductwork problems: This usually leads to poor airflow, longer cooling cycles, higher energy bills, and poor indoor air quality.
- Poor airflow: This can be caused by problems with your fans or a clogged air filter. It can create a host of issues from poor home comfort to an iced-over evaporator coil.
- Condensate line clog: When heat is pulled from the air, it leaves behind moisture on your evaporator coil that is collected in your condensate pan and drained outside. If your condensate line becomes clogged, it can cause problems for the entirety of your system.
- Electrical issues: This may pop up as problems with the communication between your thermostat and your AC, or it may show up as frequent circuit trips when you try to cool things off
Is your central AC running right? Or are you realizing that things aren’t quite as cool as they should be? If you need help getting your central air conditioner into working order again, make sure you have a professional be the one to get the job done.
Contact Air On Demand to schedule AC maintenance, repairs, and more.