I’ve been getting a lot of questions about how to repair your air conditioner… So I decided to write an article about it to answer all the questions for you guys!
If your air conditioner is not cooling or blowing cold air, don’t panic because this article will guide you through some of the most common problems and their causes. If you can diagnose and repair that problem yourself, then consider yourself lucky because it’s probably one of the cheapest things to fix on an air conditioning unit besides changing out the filters. Otherwise, if you do end up needing a professional service person, take your ac into a place like Direct Cooling in Boca Raton, Florida.
The first step is to identify where the problem lies with your air conditioner, and we will get into that now.
* The most common problems are the coils not getting “cold” because of poor airflow through the unit outside or from an obstruction blocking this airflow inside the house.
To fix this, you will need…
- A screwdriver
- Screws
- An adjustable wrench
- Some pliers
- A shop-vac
- If you want to clean out whatever is in there such as leaves etc., a little work brush
- Duct tape if needed
- About 30 minutes of your time.
* Now, here’s how to fix this problem.
- First, you will take off the front grill of the unit by unscrewing or unclipping it, some units have a little latch that opens it up, and some others have screws on the top as well, which you will need to find and remove at first.
- Once inside, you should see two metal covers hiding two coils similar to what is shown in the photo above left.
- You want to use pliers, or if they aren’t too tight, then your fingers will do just fine to pull them out and set them aside. After that is done, cut out a small square of duct tape about an inch wide by 3 inches long and fold it over once, put the tape over one of the screws where your coil was on, and now you can remove the screw.
- Once that is done, take out all the screws so that both covers are off and set them aside later. With both covers taken off, you will be able to see what is causing your coils not to get cold, which in most cases it’s probably because they need a good cleanout.
- Now, if you have leaves or anything else inside these photo ports, then I suggest you use a little work brush that isn’t too hard but stiff enough to get some of this junk out. Anything thick like tree limbs or mud won’t flush through easily, meaning there’s less air coming across the coils.
- Now that you have your cover back on, screw the screws back in, then take the duct tape off and put your grill back on, and you are all done!