There’s nothing worse than turning the AC on, hearing all the right noises and seeing all the right lights, but not feeling that welcome blast of cool air. After a moment of confusion, you realize the awful truth — the AC is running but not blowing air. And that’s when you start to panic — not only are you stuck with no escape from the heat, but you are also going to have an unexpected dent in your budget as you’ll have to fork out for repairs.
Well, relax a little. While the air conditioner not blowing cool air is definitely an issue, the cause could be something quite simple that you can fix yourself. To help you get to the root of the problem, here are some of the most common causes of an AC running but not blowing.
Common causes of an Air conditioner not blowing cold air
- Power outage
If you’ve experienced any sort of power outage recently, it may have affected your thermostat settings, or if your AC works on a timer, that could also need to be reset. If your AC doesn’t turn on at all after a power outage, check your fuse box, a breaker switch might have tripped when power was restored.
- Remote control issues
If your unit is relatively new, you might simply be pressing the wrong buttons. Make sure the temperature settings are correct and the AC is set to cool, not heat. It’s also possible that someone in your home or office, who likes it warmer than you, is sneakily changing the thermostat settings when you are not looking — to solve this issue, hide the remote.
- Clogged filters
The number one cause of AC malfunctions is dirty filters. If your filters are clogged, air cannot get through them. This can cause even greater problems, such as frozen coils.
- Problems with your ductwork
Cool air is distributed through your home through ducts, a connected system of channels in your walls. If you’ve remodeled your interior recently, you might have inadvertently blocked off some of these ducts, meaning the cool air cannot reach your living space. In older homes, leaking ducts can also be an issue, and the air is escaping into the walls and crawl spaces of your home before it can reach the vents.
- Blocked off vents
Your AC system is just that, a system, and each component contributes to its efficient functioning. If you’ve rearranged your furniture and blocked off a vent this could lead to the system being unable to function correctly.
- Problems with your fan
Air is circulated through your ductwork by a fan housed in your outside unit. If no air is coming out the vents, your fan might be on the fritz. If you think this might be the case, it’s better to call your HVAC maintenance service, unless you’ve had extensive experience working with electricity.
- Dirty coils
The coils in your AC absorb heat. If they are too caked in dirt and grime, they won’t be able to do their job and your system won’t be able to cool properly, leading to them freezing up and your AC not blowing. These coils are relatively delicate, so cleaning them is best left to the professionals.
While some of these problems are more serious than others, the good news is that they can all, with the exception of power outages and sneaky thermostat resetting, be avoided with regular service of your system. Contact us now, at Chills Air Conditioning, to schedule a maintenance check and you’ll never have to experience that awful sinking feeling we described in the first paragraph.
