Going without proper air cooling can be frustrating, especially during the summer months. Fortunately, air conditioners are usually reliable for many years. They provide your home with a refreshing cool air that keeps you and your loved ones comfortable all day long.
However, a malfunction of your A/C may rob you of the refreshing feeling. The most common question people ask themselves when this happens is why their A/C units started blowing warm air all of a sudden!
Have you noticed that your A/C is blowing warm air? Now that’s a good reason for you to start sweating. Don’t fret. Here are the top three reasons why your A/C may be blowing warm air and ways you can remedy those situations.
1. The fan setting of your thermostat is wrong
Even though this may seem counterintuitive, if you are getting warm air instead of a cold one, you might have accidentally switched your thermostat to heat mode. For the A/C to properly cool your home, the thermostat fan should be set to AUTO and not ON.
You may be wondering why this is the case! Well, your A/C cools your home in air cycles. So when you set your thermostat setting to ON, it means that the fun is set to run all day even if it is not cooling air. When this happens, your A/C vent may start producing warm or even hot air.
You can remedy this situation by simply turning the setting of your thermostat to AUTO. Doing this will ensure that your A/C only turns on when there is cool air to blow into your home.
2. Refrigerant leak
A refrigerant leak is one of the most common culprits. Your A/C needs a proper refrigerant charge (usually Freon) to cool your home effectively. The refrigerant aids the A/C in removing heat from the air and dumping that heat outside. Your indoor A/C unit absorbs heat from the air; it then carries it out to the outdoor A/C unit from where it is dumped.
Whenever your air conditioner is low on refrigerant, it won’t be able to transfer much of the heat out of your home. As such, the air that emanates from your A/C will be warm. Some of the signs that indicate that your A/C has a low amount of refrigerant include:
- It blows cold air during the night, but warm air during the day
- There is a bubbling and hissing noise near your A/C
- Your unit has a frozen refrigerant line.
You can remedy this situation by contacting a professional A/C repair and have them repair the leak and add refrigerant (freon) to your A/C unit.
3. Tripped breaker
Air conditioners usually have two breakers: one on the inside unit and the other on the outside unit. If the outdoor A/C unit’s breaker trips, the inside one will continue blowing air into your home. The downside is that the air will be warm.
You can remedy this situation by checking your unit breaker to see if any of them have tripped. If so, you should reset the circuit breakers to a neutral position and check if it has resumed normal functioning. Suppose the breaker trips again, don’t try to reset it again. Doing so may lead to your A/C unit getting damaged.
There are many reasons why your air conditioner may start blowing warm, with the ones mentioned above being the most common. While you can remedy some problems on your own, it is best to schedule an air conditioner repair and let the professionals fix all the issues with your A/C unit.