home ac unit won't come on

The blower motor is housed inside the home, typically in the furnace system. When the home’s thermostat detects that the living space is warmer than its programmed temperature level, a cooling cycle begins. The blower motor starts, turning fan blades that circulate cold air from the evaporator coils, through the home’s ductwork and into each room. If the blower motor fails to start, nothing happens. The living spaces gets uncomfortable as the cooling cycle stalls. Thermostat Most thermostats control both central air and central heat. Make sure the switch on the side of the thermostat is set to “Cool” instead of “Heat.” That will ensure that the proper mechanical system is operating. You can also turn off the heat and air conditioning, then slide the blower switch on. If the blower comes on in this manual setting, the thermostat may not be functioning properly and must be replaced. Breakers The home’s main electrical panel has a series of circuit breakers for each electrical loop in the house.

The air conditioning system typically has two breakers that control power to the motors and condenser.
air conditioner units for homeCheck the electrical box to see whether the breakers tripped.
can window ac units be used insideIf so, the blower motor will not operate.
electric wall heating and cooling unitsTrack down the reason the circuit breaker tripped, especially if it trips again after resetting. You may need an electrician to do this for you. Breakers offer a level of protection in the event an electrical loop overloads. Microswitches Metal access panels that cover the housing surrounding the blower and other air conditioning components are equipped with microswitches. These switches prevent the system from starting if an access panel is open.

The blower motor is tucked away indoors, and is employed by both the central air conditioner and the furnace. Make sure all the access doors are securely fastened in place. Even if a door is slightly skewed or not quite locked into position, the microswitch may sense that the door is fully open. If so, it will prevent the blower motor from operating. Blower Motor If the thermostat, breakers and access panel doors check out, the blower motor itself may have failed. Motors have a long useful life, but they do seize up or burn out in time. You may want to call a repair person at this point. A qualified air conditioning expert can test the motor, find the proper replacement and install it. Although homeowners with knowledge of electrical systems and air conditioning may feel like tackling this job, safety concerns mean this work is best left to certified repair professionals. References Air Comfort Systems: No-Cooling Do-It Yourself ChecklistHorizon Services: Troubleshooting Central Air Conditioning ProblemsWelter Heating: Common Central Air Conditioning ProblemsAir Conditioning and Refrigeration Guide: Troubleshooting Central Air Conditioning Photo Credits Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images Suggest a Correction

It’s a terrible feeling. You know your air conditioning system isn’t working right, but you don’t know what’s wrong, whether it can fixed without having to get a new system and how much it will cost you to be cool in your own home again. If your AC system isn’t working, there’s usually no mystery about it when a trained professional takes a look. Here are the four most common issues that keep air conditioning units from working well:Your AC unit requires a certain amount of a substance called refrigerant. If it doesn’t have enough, it won’t work right. Refrigerant can leak from a system in a variety of ways, and the reason for the leak needs to be found and fixed. Then, the system needs to be recharged.The little things mean so much when it comes to AC systems. While systems are made to last for years, they must have routine maintenance to clean away dirt and debris, make small repairs before they lead to bigger problems and keep an eye on refrigerant levels. Usually, your system needs service every year.

If your system seems to be failing and you haven’t had annual maintenance, that’s probably the reason.All home air conditioners have one or more filters to keep dust and dirt away from the sensitive components. If your AC system has suddenly stopped working, it could mean that a new filter is all that’s needed. It’s also possible that if you haven’t changed your filter monthly or as needed, dirt has gotten into important components and caused a failure. You can try changing the filter and see if this gets your system working again.It may not be the AC unit but the thermostat that’s malfunctioned. Repairing or replacing the thermostat may be all that’s needed to get the system working again. Today, there are better thermostats than ever that can make your system run more efficiently and effectively than when it was new. And replacing the thermostat may cost less than a repair to the AC unit itself. Most air conditioner repair is best left to specialists. While it’s nice to know what may be wrong in advance of having an air conditioning repair technician come out, most of the problems above require specialist service, and we’re the right place to turn for the help you need.

I’m going to be straightforward with you, I don’t like Thermostats that control humidity. (Unless they are connected to a stand-alone dehumidifier) Yes, these Thermostats will add a some level of humidity control to your house, but it will be at the expense of odd temperature management. If you set your standard thermostat to 76 degrees your AC will run so that it maintains 76 degrees. However, the thermostat doesn’t know the % Relative Humidity in your house. With very tight homes you might have a house at 76 degrees inside, but if it’s 82 degrees outside & 80% Relative Humidity outside this well built home won’t have to work very hard to maintain 76 degrees (meaning the AC won’t come on alot) unless it’s in the upper 80’s or 90’s outside. Remember that an AC unit controls temperature by running a long time so the coil gets cold and the air running past the cold coil will condense and thus dehumidify the house. The AC unit needs to run for at least 10 minutes before it’ll control humidity by air condensing on the cold coil.

On top of this we also generate humidity in our houses by living there; cooking, showering, breathing, all these add moisture to the air inside. There are lots of times of the year the AC simply won’t run long enough to bring down the humidity inside. Here’s how a standard HVAC system with a Humidity Controlling Thermostat works; the humidity controlling thermostat will tell the AC that even though the inside air is 76 degrees the humidity is too high (say 65% RH), this control module will kick on the AC to control that humidity but the furnace will need to run for 10-15 minutes in order to do any moisture (humidity) removal which ends up taking the house to a lower temperature. This is what I don’t like about the humidity control on a standard HVAC system. You’ll walk by the thermostat and it’ll show the set point as 76 degrees but the AC is still going down to 72 degrees in order to bring down the humidity. It’s hard for people to understand it who are living in the house.

It’ll make the house too cold just to bring the humidity down. This is why I like the stand alone dehumidifier. It has it’s own controller that says keep the house at 50% RH. It’s independent of the the AC unit. The Dehumidifier doesn’t add cool air to bring down the humidity like the AC does. It’s more of a low/slow/steady approach to controlling humidity compared to the AC unit which is like a V8 engine that only runs full ON or full OFF. The other benefit is that the AC with it’s large engine uses alot of electricity where as the Dehumidifier runs at a very low 7-8 Amps. The result is a comfortable house year round that uses less power. If you are considering a Humidity Controlling Thermostat, my advice is don’t. Instead add some ability to control humidity apart from you HVAC system. HVAC+D as I recently heard it. Here’s a link to what I’ve done in my personal house until I can get an more advanced UltraAire unit installed to control humidity.