Late Summer Air Conditioning Tips

Temperatures have been bouncing all over the place this summer here across the Front Range. Ninety one day means your air conditioner runs all day long. Barely making the seventies the next means your air conditioner might not even turn on.

Can your air conditioner keep up with that sporadic difference? Is it hard on an air conditioner to be changing all the time?

The thing is, your air conditioner works hard all summer long. It does its best to keep up with demands, and to keep you cool no matter what the weather is like outside. But even with a tune-up right before summer began, our weather patterns are hard on even the newest pieces of equipment. What’s more, you’re about to turn your air conditioner off for good, and possibly never flip the air conditioner switch for months.

What if your air conditioner has a problem? What if it has a malfunction that’s causing your entire system to break down? Do you leave it and deal with it in the spring?

Or should you address these issues now, when they don’t have a chance to fester and escalate?

A few things you should watch for are:

Low Air Flow

Have you ever said this to your family members:

Is it my imagination, or does the air conditioner not feel as cold as it did earlier in the year?

Nope, it’s not your imagination. Your air conditioner works hard over the summer months. That means the filter can clog, or the fan motor can misalign. Clogged air filters mean your air conditioner is having to work harder to produce cooled air. And a misaligned fan can quickly impact your entire system, causing bigger and more expensive problems down the road.

Failing Capacitors

Capacitors are designed to supply your air conditioner with proper voltage to ensure it works efficiently all summer long. After a hot summer, these capacitors can begin to struggle, even fail and stop working altogether. Luckily this is an easy fix – if you catch it soon.

Low Refrigerant

Refrigerant is what keeps your air conditioner running all summer long. If you start to see a change in your energy bills, or notice a difference in the output of cool air, it might be low refrigerant due to a leak somewhere in the system. Frost accumulation on the air conditioner’s evaporator coils are also a sign you have low refrigerant.

Don’t turn off your system and say you’ll wait until next year. Damage can grow more extensive, even to the point of destroying your air conditioner, if you decide to wait months to address the problem. Addressing it now can save you time and money in dealing with increasing consequences later, plus ensure your equipment is operating for those last minute spikes in temperature we always have in the fall.