As warmer temperatures make their way across the country, many homeowners will be turning off their furnaces and turning on their central air conditioning systems. A surprise awaits a few unlucky homeowners: when they turn on the air conditioning, nothing happens! For most, the initial reaction will rightly be to call their local HVAC to schedule air conditioning repairs but before you make that call, there are a few things to check that might fix the problem and save you the cost of an unnecessary maintenance visit.
One of the first things to check is your circuit breakers. The circuit breaker for your air conditioner may have tripped over the winter. If so, re-set the breaker and try again. If breaker trips frequently, you may have a problem with your air conditioning system that should be addressed by a good HVAC technician.
If you just changed the air conditioner/furnace filter (which is an excellent idea) make sure the filter access door is properly closed. Many units have a switch that prevents the air conditioner from operating with the access door open and unless the door is fully closed, the switch may be preventing the air conditioner from turning on.
Finally, check to be sure that your thermostat is set to “cool” and that the temperature setting is below the ambient air temperature. Some digital thermostats use the same settings for heating and cooling so you may need to adjust the thermostat temperature setting for comfortable cooling. Also, some digital thermostats have a time delay to avoid “short cycling” the system which can cause damage. Just waiting 5 to 10 minutes will sometimes solve the problem.
After checking these items, if your air conditioner still does not turn on, it’s time to call your local HVAC contractor for a system maintenance visit.
