Air conditioners often indicate that they’re struggling by the sounds that they make. During normal operation, an air conditioner’s compressor will kick on with a hum, and the fan will whir. If you’re hearing bangs, clattering, whistling, buzzing, grinding, or other surprising sounds, you’ll know right away that you need AC repair.
But there’s something else you should be listening for. It’s not just weird sounds that can mean there’s a problem. It’s when the routine sounds are happening too frequently. If you hear your air conditioner coming on and turning off again every few minutes, something is wrong. Why are these short AC cycles happening? We’ll tell you.
Wouldn’t it be great if our air conditioners could send us a little warning when something is amiss? Like, we could get a text message to our smartphones telling us when a motor bearing needs lubrication or replacing, or when we have a refrigerant leak?
Have you discovered that your AC is suffering, or ill-prepared to handle another long and hot summer? If it’s aged to the point that it no longer can work effectively and efficiently, even with a maintenance session, then you may be ready for a replacement. And with temperatures warming up already, the time is now to have a new air conditioner installed.
A clogged air filter certainly isn’t going to help your cooling system. And this is a question we get pretty often—since many people assume that the only purpose of an air filter is to improve your indoor air quality, they wonder if a clogged air filter really does have an impact on the performance of their cooling system.
Temperatures are still cool enough that you likely haven’t turned on your air conditioner quite yet. But as we’re all very well aware, when spring and summer hit, they hit hard—bringing with them soaring temps and high humidity. As a result, you want a fully effective and efficient whole-home