Overheating your Jeffersontown, KY air conditioning may leave you sweating during the summer heat. Consider these three causes of an overheated air conditioner, and what you can easily do to prevent it.
1. Low Refrigerant
Your air conditioner depends on having enough refrigerant in the system to build the proper pressure to vent the absorbed heat. When you have a refrigerant leak, your system won’t vent the heat, instead leaving it in the system. This leads to the compressor overworking and overheating.
2. Clogged Air Filter
Your air conditioner has the ability to draw air in, cool it, and then push it back out. The air filter helps protect this function by keeping airborne contaminants out of the system.
However, if you neglect the air filter and allow it to clog, it restricts the airflow into your system. This restricted airflow causes excessive strain, leading components to overheat and fail.
3. Dirty Condenser Coil
The outside unit contains the condensing coil where the heat from the refrigerant transfers to the outside air. Unlike your indoor unit, the outside unit doesn’t have an air filter to protect it.
This results in dirt and other contaminants collecting on the coil, restricting airflow through the coil. Like a clogged air filter, this inhibits heat transfer and leads to additional strain and overheating.
Keep Your AC From Overheating
The best way to prevent an overheated air conditioner is getting routine AC maintenance. During professional maintenance, your technician does a deep cleaning of your unit, as well as extensive testing.
That testing includes checking the level of refrigerant, individual components, and the cooling cycle itself. If there’s anything suboptimal, you can have it addressed before it causes the system to overheat.
Overheated systems lead to damaged components that further strain your system. If your system has overheated, call to schedule your AC repair with the experts at Elder Heating and Air today.
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