Edit ArticleHow to Check Your Air Conditioner Before Calling for Service Two Methods:TroubleshootingPreventative MaintenanceCommunity Q&A Of course, it would be the hottest day of the year that your air conditioner stops working! Check out these steps that can possibly save some money, and help you keep your cool at the same time! It's not working at all: the condenser (for an outdoor unit) or air handler/furnace (indoor unit) are not running. Make sure it's plugged in. Whether kids, dogs, or an accidental tap with the vacuum cleaner, the plug could be partially or completely dislodged. Check the circuit breakers and fuses. Circuits, especially with older homes, are easily overloaded if the air conditioner shares a circuit with appliances such as irons, refrigerators, or microwaves. Check your thermostat (cooling control) and make sure it is set to cool at the current temperature, and working properly. As with plugs, sometimes settings can change by accident.

Check your fan blower belt for excessive slack, damage, or breakage. This can cause low air flow which allows ice to form, and thus causes low cooling performance. Repair or replace the blower belt. Allow the ice to melt before restarting the AC unit. Check the coils and filter. Wash your condenser coil once a season, or as needed. Clean or change your filter regularly. This simple step alone can increase the efficiency of your air conditioner. It will also run less, increasing the life span of your equipment. A good sign that your filter needs changing is the fact of ice forming inside your inside cooling unit (evaporator section). This may be difficult to see as the unit is sealed, but touch the outside metal and feel for a noticeable temperature difference. You may also see ice on the large line going to the outside unit (suction line). If ice is forming, it is possible that your air filter is severely dirty and restricting your normal air flow.

This allows ice to form due to the fact that not enough heat is being introduced to your cooling section.small ac units window Keep your air conditioner clean for optimal performance and reliability.cost of window ac vs central air Maintaining your air conditioner and having it serviced regularly increases the efficiency of your unit, reduces energy usage, and prevents wear and tear on your equipment.ac unit covered in ice Do not attempt to diagnose any electrical problem unless you have been properly trained and/or are licensed. Do not attempt any repair work unless you are a licensed heating and air conditioning technician. Most states require a licensed heating and air conditioning contractor to perform any repair work. Do not bend the "fins" on the outside of the condenser.

Make certain to wash the coils in an "up/down" fashion. Do not immediately assume that if your air conditioner is not working that the thermostat is at fault. Tampering with the thermostat or is related wiring can cause more problems than you initially started with. If nothing is happening with the thermostat set, immediately call for service. Do not attempt to add or remove refrigerant from your system unless you are licensed by the EPA. Fines and penalties await those who tamper with or release refrigerant in an unsafe or unapproved fashion. When in doubt, stop. Immediately call a licensed heating and air conditioning contractor.The requested URL was not found on this server.There's a lot of snake oil and questionable products lining the shelves of the average auto parts store. From octane booster to VTEC fluid (ha!), it's hard to separate the genuinely useful products from the chaff. So when A/C Pro sent me a few canisters of its do-it-yourself air conditioning recharge system, I was a bit skeptical.

The idea is that most aging car air conditioning systems that don't blow as cold as they should suffer only from low levels of refrigerant. The way A/C Pro works is that you plug a can into your car's air conditioner and simply refill the system with R-134a refrigerant and the necessary lubricants to rejuvenate aging seals and moving parts. I've laid out detailed instructions for using the A/C Pro product in the gallery below. Check it out for photos and a full walkthrough. Putting it to the test With the car running and the air conditioning system powered on, I located the air conditioner's low side connection port. Air conditioning systems are essentially split into two parts, the low- and high-pressure sides, and the cooling happens as the refrigerant is compressed and passes from a state of high pressure to low pressure. After locating the low-pressure connection point, I used the A/C Pro's gauge to measure the pressure of the system. (Be sure to keep your hands clear of moving parts;

I got a nice friction burn on the back of my hand from a moving accessory belt.) If the pressure looks low, then it's time to refill and recharge the system using the A/C Pro product by pulling the trigger on the filler nozzle. The filler nozzle and pressure gauge combo gives feedback and control over the refilling and the user should take care not to overfill the system, which can adversely affect the system's ability to chill air. Our test car, a 1999 Toyota Corolla, was blowing 84-degrees-Fahrenheit air at the beginning of the test. I saw a 20-degree drop in vent air temperature to about 64 degrees. That's a big-enough jump to prove that the product does work -- at least as a short-term fix. Systems with moderate to large leaks could eventually depressurize again and may still need a mechanic's help. A/C Pro tells us that for the vast majority of systems, this simple recharge should be enough. All in, prepping, measuring, and recharging the system took me about 30 minutes.