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My List of the Most Common AC Repair Troubles

Performance Overview

August is “late summer,” but it never seems like that to me. As an HVAC blogging dog, I know that the “serious summer” is during August and through September because this is when our team here at Russell & Abbott is the busiest fielding those important customer AC repair calls. It’s not just that it’s really hot this time of year. It’s that air conditioners have already done plenty of hard work in the early parts of the summer, so when the heat ramps up in August, they may be too worn down already.

I know I mention this a lot, but I want to sneak in another shout-out to our regular maintenance program, The Comfort Club. There’s no better way to prepare your air conditioning system for a long summer and a hassle-free August and September than through an annual spring visit from one of our team members!

Still, even I can’t promise you that regular maintenance will prevent every single AC repair problem. Here are the more common ones that can strike at this time of year:

  • Failed Capacitors and Contactors: Electrical problems in air conditioners are about as common as malfunctions can be in ACs. Usually, it comes from failed capacitors and contractors, both parts responsible for controlling the flow of electrical voltage to the motors. Both parts of temporary and will wear down. Maintenance will often catch this early to make replacements, but both can still fail during the summer and cause the AC to stop working.
  • Refrigerant Leaks: This is a problem that most often occurs in systems that are more than five years old. Corrosion from chemicals in the household air can allow refrigerant to escape from the copper lines. The refrigerant loss puts the entire AC in danger—it’s bigger than a loss of cooling, it can mean a loss of the compressor!
  • Condensate Drainage Trouble: An air conditioning system must be able to effectively remove the water moisture that forms along the coils and drips down into a pan. A busted drain pump, clogged drain, or loose drain can cause the AC to stop working or lead to mold and mildew growing inside the cabinet. Icky!
  • Tight or Seized Compressor: The compressor is the most important part of the AC because it’s where energy is transferred to the refrigerant so the air conditioner can do the job of cooling. The compressor can become tight so it expends extra energy to work or may seize up and not work at all. Please get our team on a job like this ASAP!
  • Dirty Coils: Coils either inside or outside can become dirty, and this makes it harder for the AC to remove heat and then expel it outside. I don’t recommend you get a spray bottle and some rags to clean the coils—this isn’t much good and might harm the coils. Let us use our super-advanced super-effective super-wow methods to get those coils clean fast and right.

So remember, when you think you need air conditioning repair in Loudon, TN, don’t think too hard about it and try to figure out which of the above may be the problem. You let us do that work, and soon you’ll be relaxing in your home once more.

Stay cool,

Olive

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