We hope that you’re enjoying the waning days of summer here in Northern Virginia. We also hope that you haven’t experienced any serious troubles with your home’s air conditioning system that might have interrupted the cool indoors you expect during this time of the year.
However, just because an AC has hummed away without problems for the previous summer months doesn’t mean it will glide through until the fall chill arrives. In fact, your air conditioning system has undergone enough stress during the first part of the summer that it is more likely to have a malfunction at this time of the year. At the first signs of a performance issue, call for professional AC repairs. Below are some of the more common late-season AC problems:
- Burnt-out motors: If excess dust and dirt has made its way into the air conditioner’s cabinets over the summer (which can sometimes happen because of debris around the outside condenser) it can cause extra mechanical stress on the motors that run the fans and the compressor. Eventually, this stress will cause the motors to burn-out, fusing their wiring. When the fans or compressor stop running, or you hear shrieking and grinding noises from the cabinet, call for repairs right away. If burnt-out motors are the source, technicians will need to replace them.
- Miscalibrated thermostat: A thermostat may start to become miscalibrated over the summer, much the same way that a clock can start to run slow or fast. When this happens, the thermostat will start to turn the air conditioning system on and off at incorrect times. Professionals can recalibrate the thermostat to fix this.
- Iced-over evaporator coil: A consequence of dirt entering the indoor cabinet is that it can cause the evaporator coil to freeze over. A layer of grime will insulate the coil, restricting heat absorption, and the cold refrigerant in the coil will remain too cold, triggering moisture freezing along it. You must have HVAC technicians address this; you cannot simply scrape off the ice.
Contact OASIS Heating, A/C & Refrigeration, Inc. in Arlington, VA for fast air conditioning repairs.
