Okay, so my air conditioning stopping working, more or less, yesterday. The air would blow when it was supposed to come on, but it wasn't particularly cool. This wouldn't really indicate that the thermostat is the problem, but I went ahead and replaced it since it was old as hell and I wanted the programmable 7-day kind.

So, new thermostat, it seems to be communicating with the unit fine, but the air that comes out is not cold. It's like 85 degrees in my house right now. Is there anything else I can check myself before dropping the $texas on a repairman?

Thanks.

7/26/2007 4:45:27 PM

do you have ice inside the AC unit outside? it probably just needs to have the refrigerant recharged...home and car AC units usually need their refrigerant recharged every 2-3 years...if you know somebody with a tank they can do it...if not you can call an HVAC guy and tell them you probalby just need to have the refrigerant recharged

7/26/2007 4:47:38 PM

Might need freon.

7/26/2007 4:49:10 PM

that shouldn't cause it to stop working all of a sudden--i would think more along the lines of a compressor problem

7/26/2007 4:50:04 PM

the air is blowing its just not cold

7/26/2007 4:50:47 PM

Airmakers seems to have the best combnation of quality work and price. We just bought a new unit from them and they did a good job. My parents and three people on my street have also used them.
http://www.airmakers.com/

7/26/2007 4:51:08 PM

^^and the compressor makes it cold...

[Edited on July 26, 2007 at 4:53 PM. Reason : could also be a ruptured coil]

7/26/2007 4:51:55 PM

^^^True, if it actually did stop working suddenly. Sometimes you won't notice it b/c the air conditioner compensates by running longer.

7/26/2007 4:52:11 PM

^^actually the condenser makes it cold...but i bet it just needs refrigerant

7/26/2007 4:54:19 PM

actually the evaporator is what makes it cold

[Edited on July 26, 2007 at 5:01 PM. Reason : if you wanna split hairs]

7/26/2007 5:00:48 PM

Quote :

"i bet it just needs refrigerant"

7/26/2007 5:02:54 PM

but it might just need refrigerant

7/26/2007 5:08:49 PM

check and see if your compressor is actually running when the "air comes on"

7/26/2007 5:10:38 PM

Quote :

"do you have ice inside the AC unit outside? it probably just needs to have the refrigerant recharged...home and car AC units usually need their refrigerant recharged every 2-3 years...if you know somebody with a tank they can do it...if not you can call an HVAC guy and tell them you probalby just need to have the refrigerant recharged"

this was my first thought. we had the same problem w/ the a/c at the beach house last year twice.

7/26/2007 5:16:47 PM

Quote :

"do you have ice inside the AC unit outside? it probably just needs to have the refrigerant recharged...home and car AC units usually need their refrigerant recharged every 2-3 years...if you know somebody with a tank they can do it...if not you can call an HVAC guy and tell them you probalby just need to have the refrigerant recharged"

if you need your shit charged every 2-3 years, something is wrong

7/26/2007 5:34:50 PM

I guess I'll be calling somebody in the morning.

It's 86 in my hallway

7/26/2007 5:50:14 PM

my a/c made loud exploding noises a couple a weeks ago, also no cold air.

the wiring decided to burn b/c the heat pump pre heater? decided to take a dump all of a sudden.

could be any number of things.

unless you take the unit apart, you won't know what's wrong.

7/27/2007 12:11:22 PM

Quote :

"if you need your shit charged every 2-3 years, something is wrong"

i like my place to be like an icebox...a few years of that and it needs a charge

7/27/2007 12:12:56 PM

^ Ehe me too

Turned out to just be a blown fuse inside the unit. Pretty cheap to fix. Thank jesus.

7/27/2007 12:14:56 PM

nah dog, i keep one property at 65 all the time during the summer and it hasn't needed a recharge in at least 20 years. if your shit constantly needs charging, then that is a problem.

7/27/2007 12:15:06 PM

^^nice...glad you got it fixed cause that shit can be miserable

^20 years??? my apartment AC unit is old so it probably does have a slow leak...not sure how different a cars AC is

7/27/2007 12:15:26 PM

yep, purchased the property from my parents and it's a York a/c system. it has NEVER needed maint.

low cost of ownership is the heat.

car a/c's are better sealed too. you shouldn't need recharging until it's time to empty the system and have them put new oil and refrigerant in it.

that's what i had them do on my old car and the a/c works great now.

[Edited on July 27, 2007 at 12:20 PM. Reason : unless your car has really shitty seals like chryslers.]

7/27/2007 12:18:34 PM

we've got a few chevy vehicles (mostly suburbans) that i've had to charge up maybe every 3-4-5 years...dunno

7/27/2007 12:30:01 PM

Nice to see you had a cheap solution to the problem. Ours did that. It had been giving up problems for years.

Turns out it was a slow leak. Once all the refrigerant leaked out the compressor went. It was a 24 year old unit (indoors) so we went ahead and replaced the whole system. Not fun. Not cheap.

You have to be careful. Typically if you are running the AC when no cool air is blowing out you are just giving your compressor a good opportunity to burn out on you. I believe newer systems have checks in place to prevent compressor damage, but I'd still be careful.

[Edited on July 27, 2007 at 12:39 PM. Reason : -]

7/27/2007 12:36:33 PM

continuem transfunctioner

7/27/2007 4:36:47 PM

if this happens to anyone else, i'd turn off the non-cold air flow...i've had this happen to me and it just makes stuff hotter

hopefully you've got some fans

[Edited on July 27, 2007 at 4:47 PM. Reason : +]

7/27/2007 4:46:56 PM

this happened to us this week!

is the fan running in the AC unit? if not you need a new one!

If you have electric heat and the coils are frozen, turn on the heat so it will thaw, then turn the AC back on. (granddaddy taught us that trick)

nevermind...you fixed it

[Edited on July 27, 2007 at 4:51 PM. Reason : ]

7/27/2007 4:50:36 PM

you should always have a HVAC company come out to your house once a year or so to clean the coils and recharge it. a lot of times, these guys will catch the potential problems before they happen. ARS will do this for like $75.

7/27/2007 4:58:12 PM

i'd have the HVAC guy come out once, let him teach you how to clean and inspect your unit (noting any particular issues that may arise with your specific model) and go from there.

that's what i did. it's really simple to clean your coils and guages aren't expensive. esp. if you use them every year to check your system (plus you can use them on your car). of course that is more effort and money than people want to spend on things.

7/27/2007 10:53:59 PM

I wish I had ac in my truck

7/27/2007 10:58:50 PM

you can.

just get a home a/c unit and ghetto fab it into the cab.

7/27/2007 11:26:18 PM

Quote :

"home and car AC units usually need their refrigerant recharged every 2-3 years"

wtf, do you know how the hell the units work, at all? unless there is a leak, they never need recharging. freon isn't used as a fuel that is depleted

7/27/2007 11:36:55 PM

heh, we had the main capacitor on our central heating and air crapped out. Wouldn't blow any air or anything since the fan wouldn't start. A damn $30 part ended up costing us $115 with the service guy.

7/27/2007 11:42:54 PM

i had an after hours hvac guy come by and fix my a/c. cost $800 to replace a capacitor, power block and rewire the unit around the catastrophic pre-heater failure.

i'm glad i didn't foot the bill.

7/27/2007 11:46:52 PM