In The News 3" - 5" - 6"There’s nothing worse than sitting in your home and realizing that your air conditioner is blowing hot air--especially during the sickeningly hot summer months. Even though It’s not summer yet, you don’t want to look for answers for why your air conditioner isn’t working when you’re burning up inside your home. It’s best to know the reasons ahead of time so you’ll know how to avoid them or when to call a professional. So why is your AC blowing hot air? Here are 4 common reasons: Ok, this might be a huge “duh” but if you’re getting hot air, you might have accidentally flipped your thermostat to “heat” mode. It happens to all of us. If that’s the case, switch it back to “cool” and you’re good to go. Chances are, your thermostat is set to cool, and you’re still getting hot air. The cause could be a dirty evaporator coil caused by a dirty air filter. This keeps your air conditioner from properly cooling your home.

You can change the filter, but you'll need a professional to clean the evaporator coil. Walk outside and look at your air conditioner’s outside condenser unit. What do you see? Is there anything blocking the condenser coils air flow? Are they blocked with dirt and debris? If so, this seriously impacts your air conditioner’s cooling ability. Cleaning the condenser coils needs to be a regular activity during the summertime.heat pump hvac cost This is the usual culprit. world's smallest window ac unitYour air conditioner needs a proper refrigerant (usually Freon) charge to cool your home.american standard ac package unit So a Freon leak can leave you feeling the heat since you’ll have a complete loss of cold air.

You can tell if your air conditioner doesn't have enough Freon if ice forms on the inside and outside units. Getting a Freon charge is best left to a professional. Keeping an eye on these problems will not only will this keep your air conditioner from blowing hot air, it will also prevent a costly breakdown. And the last thing you want is a breakdown during summer. So it only makes sense to get preventative maintenance done during the spring before it gets too hot. If you live in the Atlanta, Georgia metro area, give Coolray a call. We have been serving Atlanta, Marietta, Alpharetta, Kennesaw, Lawrenceville, Roswell and the Atlanta metro area since 1966. Contact Coolray online to get maintenance done on your air conditioner.Your furnace and air conditioning unit are designed to be quite sturdy, but they aren’t designed to run forever. Both your air conditioner and your furnace (along with your blower) are in the business of changing the temperature of air and moving this air throughout your home.

With that much air, it’s unsurprising that dust and grime begin to build up over time. The more dust and grime you have, the harder your air conditioner, furnace, and blower will have to work to do their job. Too much dirt and they’ll stop working. In other words, if you want your air conditioner and furnace to run for a long time, you need to do a little bit of maintenance work on them. Take a look at that air conditioner. Some of the coils are blocked with gunk. It’s simply not running as efficiently as it should, which means the unit has to work harder to cool the home. If it’s overworked, it’s also more likely to break down. How can you fix that? Cleaning your external air conditioning unit is actually pretty easy. Just stop by your local HVAC supply shop and buy some cleaning solution (one jug of it will be enough for quite a few cleanings). Go home, cut the power to your AC unit using the breaker box, then wet down the coils on your unit with a garden hose.

Using gloves and safety glasses, spray on some of the cleaning solution, let it sit for a while, then spray the coils down again with a garden hose to wash away both the grime and the cleaning solution. Wait a bit longer, then flip the power back on. It’ll look like new and run more efficiently, too. What other steps can you take? Make sure you change the filter in your blower on a regular basis. Go down to your basement (or wherever your blower is located) and check the filter in your blower unit. If you’re not sure when you last changed it, it’s probably time to change it. Mark down the size of your filter, then head to your local hardware store and pick up a replacement filter. Swapping the filter is easy, but the important step is to note the lifetime of your new filter and mark on your calendar when you need to change the filter. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can clean the blower as well. The blower is a giant fan usually found next to the filter. Turn off the breaker and remove the cover on the blower unit.

Most of the time, these just unplug like a normal fan. Unplug it, then use a brush to clean off the blades and a vacuum cleaner to clean the area around the blower unit. Plug it back in, put it back in place, put the cover back on, and flip the breaker again. You’ll have more efficient air flow, which means a lower energy bill. There are other regular maintenance steps well worth taking for your furnace and air conditioner, but they usually require additional equipment (like a high-powered vacuum) and can cause damage if done incorrectly, so you’re better off having an expert handle them. The end result of these tasks is a more efficient heating and cooling system in your home. It will run less, which means a smaller energy bill for you, and it also extends the life of your air conditioner, furnace, and blower system, meaning you save long-term on replacement costs. This post is part of a yearlong series called “365 Ways to Live Cheap (Revisited),” in which I’m revisiting the entries from my book “365 Ways to Live Cheap,” which is available at Amazon and at bookstores everywhere.