Help! I Dont Have Cold Air in My House!
The lack of cooling within a residence, is a very common problem for homeowners. In many instances this concern can be a minor problem; however the lack of cooling could also indicate a major issue and expense. The absence of cooling is not as acute a problem as the absence of heat.
Description
When the air during mid day is obviously too warm and the sweat is starting to bead up on your back, you can be assured that the cooling cycle of your mechanical systems is not properly functioning.
Quick solutions
- Check the batteries in your thermostat. In many cases, the batteries are old and have ceased to function, causing the cooling to go off.
- Check the thermostat, maybe someone had decided it was simply too cold and turned up the thermostat.
- Check the thermostat for all the proper settings and switches, sometimes a simply bump of the thermostat can change a setting.
- Check the breakers on the electrical panel. Has one of the breakers flipped off? Make sure all breakers are on.
- If there is a reset button on your mechanical unit, is it flipped and can it be reset? Try the resetting of this button, however, use caution due to the fact that, if it is tripped, it tripped for a reason.
- If the system has an exterior condenser, check that nothing has caused the fan within the condenser to jam. Sometimes the wind and the environment may blow a limb or a stick into the condenser fan, causing it to stop and overloading the circuit.
- The system lacks the proper amount of refrigerant to properly function and needs to be recharged. If this is the case, a call to a professional mechanical contractor or serviceman is required.
- The ambient exterior temperature is simply too hot for the cooling system within the residence to keep the interior temperatures properly conditioned. Depending upon the situation, a system that has been minimally designed could be insufficient to adequately cool the interior of the structure. This is a design issue and additional cooling will be required to correct the condition.
- If it is apparent that all of the cooling systems are properly functional, then the closing of unused rooms, the drawing of shades and curtains and the refraining of cooking, may allow the cooling system to catch up with the cooling requirements within the home.
Future considerations
- Lack of cooling is a very inconvenient issue and the proper maintenance of your heating and cooling system is vital to eliminating the situation of NO COOLING / Now What?
- Yearly maintenance of the systems, as well as replacement of filters and special screens, is required to ensure that the systems remain functional.
- Yearly replacement of all batteries in the control systems of the heating and cooling systems is recommended. Replace the batteries when you replace the batteries in your smoke detectors, on a yearly basis.
- Keep all unnecessary areas of the residence closed up and all shades and drapes drawn, in an effort to keep the coolness of the evening, in the residence during the day.
- Install additional tonnage of cooling to increase the cooling capacity of your equipment.
Professional suggestions
- Hire a professional company to provide maintenance on your heating and cooling systems.
- If the system is old and not of current technological levels, replacement might be in order. New and modern systems are highly energy efficient and provide years of problem free service.
The lack of cooling like the lack of heat will occur at the most inconvenient times, and the proper maintenance and service on your heating and cooling systems will eliminate this inconvenience. Service and maintenance must be properly managed to ensure that the NO COOLING / What Now? issue does not occur.