HVAC

Five Most Common HVAC Problems

All right today I wanted to go over the five most common problems with HVAC air conditioners.

Say you go to turn you’re air conditioner or heater on
on cool or heat and auto and you lower your temperature down
and let’s say nothing happens. The unit doesn’t turn on the blower doesn’t turn on at all first thing you want to check is the breakers.

It could be a tripped breaker. You often have a breaker for the condenser
and then a breaker for the fan itself this one is right here
for the fan. So make sure your breakers are not tripped. Sometimes if they’re tripped they will trip halfway and when you reset it you need to turn the breaker all the way off and then turn the breaker all the way back on.

Next thing to check is the door switch often there is a service door switch on the air conditioner heater unit it’s usually located right here (top left side of the air handler) what you want to do is push on this left side to see if that will engage that switch. So if you got it on heat or cool and auto already. A lot of times that will be the problem.

Sometimes you might need to add a screw. Like this one a
screws been added to make sure that it is held in place.
Or you can tape the door shut. If you do add a screw you want to make sure that that screw isn’t going to be penetrating into anything.
Like any tubing or anything like that such as any refrigerant tubing behind it you want to make sure you pick a place that is good and you don’t want a screw that is too long you don’t want it to poke into anything that it’s not supposed to.

Ok the number three most common problem with air conditioners. So one we had a breaker tripped, two, the service door switch.

The third most often cause of an air conditioner not working is inside here if this hatch comes open. Sometimes let’s say it wasn’t secured properly it’s got this like a mailbox latch that latches the door into place and if that came open and this hatch falls open a lot of times what happens is your evaporator coil will freeze up into a block of ice.

So while you are there you got your filter and your filter make sure you have good air flow that a lot of times what will happen is that will
turn to a block of ice and you won’t even be able to pull the air filter off of it.

What you want to do is come over here to your thermostat and just turn
the cool side off and just turn just the house fan on so turn the fan on on and put the switch here on off that way you can defrost the air conditioner and you also kind of want to watch it to make sure your condensation line doesn’t overflow.

It could get built up with too much water from the ice melting. So something to keep an eye on there but keeping the fan on will help melt the ice faster and dry everything out.

You know get back to normal. It takes a little while and than you’ll be able to put it to cool and auto again and you’ll close this door and again if you need to you will add a screw or you can add some tape to make sure that its held in place and doesn’t come open on you again.

Number four most common problem with HVAC heaters and air conditioners is a fan motor that won’t start. Often you can just replace
the fan start capacitor.

I have a video showing you how to do that, “First Thing To Try”
“Before” you just run out and replace the “Motor” is to try “Replacing”
the fan start capacitor and it’s not truly a start cap it is actually a run cap but replacing that capacitor that capacitor helps get the fan started going
and gives it that initial kick to start. Without that it can’t start it will just
sit there and hum and sometimes you can even push start it with a pen or something. You know “very carefully”.

And the fifth most common cause of losing your heating or air conditioning is a faulty thermostat so you can click on over to my video about how to troubleshoot a faulty thermostat.

Anyway those are the five most common problems with heating and air conditioning that you will come across that will give you
a no cool or heat call, and I have videos on all of those so you can
check them out. I will try to put the links here or right on this videos so you can click over to watch those.

And thats the five most common problems with the indoor side of HVAC heating and air conditioning.

Posted by Kung Fu Maintenance in Air Conditions, The KFM Blog, Tips

Seven Smart Steps to Lower Cooling Bills, Improve Air Quality, and Preserve Air Condition Units

Clean Condensor Coils.

First pull the A/C disconnect and discharge the capacitor. Next rinse the coils with a garden hose and hand sprayer (make sure the spray is not too strong to avoid bending the condenser fins) starting from the inside fins thru the lid, spray as much of the dirt to the outside. Avoid getting the fan condenser motor wet but do rinse off the blades as needed. Next clean off the outside of the fins with the spray spraying straight but angle downward. Avoid spraying sideways to prevent bending the fins. Next apply the coil cleaner with a garden sprayer or by following manufacturer’s recommendations. Wait manufacturers recommended time (usually about five minutes) and rinse the coils inside and out thoroughly.

Mechanics and Methods of Air Conditioner Repair

Artwork diagram from the book Kung Fu Maintenance

Clean Evaporator Coils.

A no rinse evaporator coil cleaner is the easiest way to clean the evaporator coil. Spray it on the coils turn on the evaporator coil. Reset the panel door turn on the A/C and wait the manufacturers recommended time (usually between five and thirty minutes).

Replace  Air Filters.

Replace filters every three months and every month if possible during higher use seasons. If you or a family member suffer from allergies use a HEPA filter. HEPA stands for high efficiency particle arrestor. The HEPA filter catches smaller particles so your noses and lungs don’t have to.

Clear Condensate Pans, Drains,  and Lines.

Use a wet dry vacuum to vacuum out the pan and lines. On some systems you may need to hook up a smaller hose to the wet dry suction to get better access to the pan. You can make a quick rig for this with a small length of plastic hose and duct tape. Just insert two to three foot length of hose into wet dry vacuum suction hose end and duct tape in place wrapping the tape around the union covering all gaps (makeshift reducer coupling).

Add Condensate Tablets to Drain Pans.

Good condensate pan tablets contain rust and mold inhibitors. They also contain an anti-coagulant that keeps the dirt from clumping together and clogging your condensate drain. They will help preserve the life of your condensate drain pan as well as help keep the air you and your guests are breathing healthier and better smelling.

Tape all Areas of Air Leakage at Air Handler.

Apply HVAC foil tape or other HVAC rated tape to seal any open joints. Use an old dollar bill or a paper towel to locate any air leakage whether blowing out or sucking in. Hold the dollar bill or paper by one end and see if the other end is affected, either sucked towards or blown away from the air handler when you move it around the system. That is a one dollar or less air leak locator. Seal off any leakages with tape to improve the efficiency of the system.

Check for Fifteen to Twenty Degree Split.

Turn on the system and wait five to ten minutes for the pressures to equalize. Test the temperature going in the intake vent and then test the temperature coming out of one of the registers. If you have two thermometers, set one up at each, and take your readings. If your reading coming out of the register is fifteen to twenty degrees cooler then the air being sucked into the intake then your refrigerant charge is ok. If not then your system will need to be charged and the refrigerant leak located (most often at a Schrader valve, I cover this and many other factors in my book Kung Fu Maintenance). If you are not EPA certified you will need the services of a qualified HVAC technician.

~~~ Stay Cool ~~

~~~~~~ Kung Fu Maintenance ~~~~~

Posted by Kung Fu Maintenance in Air Conditions, The KFM Blog, Tips, 0 comments