Your air conditioner isn’t something you think about often. It sits outside your home and keeps it cool in the summer, but it’s out of sight and out of mind. That is until something breaks and you’re cooking inside your own home.
There are many repairs on an air conditioner that don’t require a professional. You can save a lot of money by doing them yourself. It’s important to turn off the breaker to the AC unit prior to doing any AC repair.
This keeps you safe and your AC unit free from damage. We’ll outline five simple repairs that you can do yourself.
Changing Your Filter is an Easy AC Repair
When your central air unit takes in air, it passes through a filter designed to keep dirt and other debris from entering the home in the cooled air. Over time, this debris can build up on the filter and make it difficult for it to take in air.
This causes the air conditioner to work harder and may lead to overheating. You can easily change the filter and replace it with a clean version. How you replace the filter depends on the type of unit, but it’s usually easy and the filters don’t cost much money.
The AC is a complex unit, but this fix is easy.
Clean the AC Metal Fins
On the outside of the air conditioning unit, perhaps under a metal grate you have to remove, is a series of thin metal fins. They’re very fragile and bend easily, but they also need to be cleaned occasionally.
Take a vacuum cleaner with a fine bristled brush head and gently vacuum the debris from the fins. This helps your air conditioner run easier and may improve the coldness and quality of the air.
Clogged fins also make the air conditioner work harder, which shortens its life span.
Fix a Settled AC Pad
The concrete or plastic pad the air conditioning units sits on must be level. Over time, weather and settling can cause the pad to sink. This is fine as long as the AC unit is level and it’s not putting any stress on the tubing into your house.
If it does or if there is puddling around the unit, then you need to readjust the pad. There is no need to disconnect the AC unit. Instead, you just need a board and sand.
Use the board to lift underneath the pad until it’s level and then fill in the space with sand. It’s important to do it slowly so as to not break the pad.
Melt the Ice on Coils
There are many reasons why ice can collect on the evaporator coils from improper refrigerant amounts to small leaks. It may be 100 degrees outside, but the coil ices up. This may cause your air conditioner to fail and not produce cold air.
This fix is easy. If it’s a warm day and you don’t mind the house warmer, you can simply turn off the air conditioner and Mother Nature will do the rest. If you need at least some air circulation, then turn off the cooling aspect and just run the fan.
Your AC Unit is Noisy
If the AC unit is close to the house, then the fan might be a little too noisy. If it’s outside a popular room such as the living or dining room, then people near it may have trouble hearing conversations or the television.
You can order a sound blanket that is designed to muffle the sounds of the fan.
Trust in Your Abilities
Many people are nervous about trying to do an AC repair by themselves, but these issues are easy to fix and don’t require a lot of know-how. The steps to fixing the issue are straight forward.
If you want to learn more about AC issues, then please explore our site.