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When the scorching hot summer weather sets in, most of us rely on our home air conditioning system to stay comfortable and safe. Unfortunately, it’s common for most homeowners to experience issues with their air conditioners from time to time. If your air conditioner is blowing hot air, it could be due to one of a few different reasons.
Fan Set to On
One of the simplest reasons your cooling system may be blowing hot air is because you have your blower fan set to on. When your fan is set to on, it will run non-stop regardless of whether your air conditioner is running or not. You’ll notice the air coming out of your vents will be cold one moment and hot the next.
This is your air conditioner kicking on and off as normal. To solve this issue, you simply need to change your blower fan settings from on to auto. When set to auto, your blower fan will only turn on whenever your air conditioner kicks on.
Low Refrigerant Level
Probably one of the most common culprits behind warm air coming out of your vents is a low refrigerant level. Over time, your refrigerant lines and coils can develop pinhole leaks and their joints can loosen up. When this happens, the refrigerant gas can seep out.
When your system doesn’t have enough refrigerant, it won’t be able to adequately extract the heat from inside your home. It will essentially just circulate the hot air. You’ll need one of our professionals to identify the source of the refrigerant leak, repair it, and recharge your refrigerant level.
Frozen Coils
Another common reason you may have hot air coming out of your supply vents is the coils in your unit are frozen. Coils freeze up when there isn’t enough airflow, as the refrigerant gets too cold and ice is over. In a lot of cases, frozen coils are the result of a dirty air filter that isn’t allowing enough airflow throughout your unit.
Other causes of frozen coils include too much grime on the coil’s surface, obstructed return vents, closed registers, and low refrigerant levels. It’s best to shut off your unit and check its air filter and coils to see if they’re the source of the issue.
Tripped Circuit Breaker
One thing you’ll want to check is the operation of your outdoor condenser unit. Head outside and listen for the running noise of your condenser. If it’s not working, the circuit breaker for your outdoor condenser unit may have tripped. This can allow hot air to come out of your vents because the inside blower compartment is still circulating air throughout your home that simply hasn’t had the heat extracted from it. Try resetting the circuit breaker for your outdoor condenser unit to see if that solves the hot air issue.
Faulty Compressor
The compressor pump inside your unit is responsible for circulating refrigerant between your indoor air handler unit and the outdoor condenser unit. When that compressor fails, it won’t circulate refrigerant, which means it won’t extract heat from your indoor air. The inside blower components of the indoor handler unit will continue to circulate hot air throughout your home. One of our technicians will need to assess your compressor and potentially replace it if it’s faulty.
Blocked Condenser Unit
For your air conditioner to successfully transport heat from inside your home to the outdoors, it relies on the blower components in the outdoor condenser unit to disperse heat from the refrigerant. Unfortunately, if the outside of your condenser unit gets blocked by debris, it can’t release heat into the air. That heat will remain in the refrigerant and continue circulating throughout your entire system. Fortunately, this is a pretty simple fix, as all you need to do is remove the blockage whether it be leaves, grass, or anything else.
Leaky Ducting
One last reason your vents may be delivering hot air is you have leaky ductwork. If any of the air ducts running throughout your home disconnect from one another or develop very large leaks, the cold air from your air conditioner may escape into wall and floor crevices instead of getting delivered to the rooms in your home. You’ll need one of our HVAC techs to do a camera inspection of your ducting to identify the areas that are leaking.
Expert AC Repair Service
FTS Heating & Cooling offers expert AC repair service for the Lebanon, MO area. We can assist with all your cooling system maintenance, replacement, and new installation needs. Simply call our friendly office staff today to schedule your next appointment with one of our highly knowledgeable HVAC technicians.
