repairs Archives

An air conditioner not working is one of the worst things you can face. This is especially true for those living in hot and humid conditions or having an enclosed space that does not receive proper ventilation.

For offices, data centers and other commercial spaces where air conditioners are not just a luxury but an absolute necessity, malfunctioning ACs are a nightmare.

We have spoken before on how to increase the life of your HVAC unit on Thrive. Yet, even with our best efforts, things can go wrong and you are faced with emergency air conditioner repairs.

I am listing below some of the common issues that usually go wrong in air conditioners. This is not just with the intention of you taking care of your essential machine, it is so that you can quickly diagnose and get your air conditioner repaired at the earliest.

You need to keep in mind though that these are the more common issues people face with their ACs. This is by no means an exhaustive list and there are a number of other issues that can easily crop up in an air conditioning system.

Dirty or Clogged Air Filters

This is by far the most common issue people face when it comes to ACs. Overtime, the air filters in your air conditioners starts to accumulate dust and various other kinds of substances.

It is not just the air filters that get clogged due to foreign substances. Your AC pipes, ducts etc. all get clogged with regular usage.

The first thing that the AC annual maintenance contracts cover is regular cleaning of air filters and other parts. This is because, dust and other particles accumulation leads to the most number of AC malfunctions.

Hence if you feel that your air conditioner is not cooling as before or you find droplets of water leaking from the front unit, then it is most probably an air filter issue.

Dirty air filters can actually lead to your HVAC unit causing more harm in your home as well as office.

Gas Leakage

Split air conditioning units have a gas system that needs to maintain a certain pressure for the AC to cool an area effectively.

Overtime, there can be gas leakages that lead to depletion of the optimum levels needed for cooling. It could also be that the gas is simply used up if not refilled in a long time.

Hence, if your air conditioner is working properly and the issue is that it is not cooling properly, it can be a gas issue.

Unlike clogged air filters, if it is indeed a gas issue, then you will find you’re AC does not cool at all or the cooling is rapidly slowing down over a number of days of usage.

Severe gas leakage will lead to you’re AC not cooling at all.

AC Circuit Issues

The entire circuit system inside your air conditioner is essential for proper communication between the outdoor and indoor units of your AC.

It is also necessary for proper inputs from the AC remote or control system to the mechanical units of the machine.

Circuit issues can lead to malfunctions as the AC does not know how to communicate between each of its parts. It will also cause a problem for the AC to understand inputs from the user such as yourself.

Voltage Issues

While most modern day HVAC units do have voltage stabilizers, there are times when issues crop up in your air conditioner.

Voltage fluctuations in your home due to whatever reason can be a cause for your air conditioner and other machines to malfunction

Broken or Faulty Blower

Your air conditioner will have a blower or a fan in the indoor unit that is essential for cool air to blow out of the AC.

There are times when this blower stops rotating or parts of it become non-functional. In this case, even though you’re AC is actually working properly, it is because of the blower fan that your air conditioner does not cool effectively.

Broken or faulty blowers are a common issue faced in ACs and can be diagnosed quickly by any qualified technician.

Final thoughts

Even though I have mentioned it above, it is important to reiterate that the above given list of issues are not an exhaustive list. There are a number of other issues that can occur such as thermostat issues, coils and wiring problems.

If your air conditioner is not cooling effectively, you may first try to clean the air filters or get your gas levels checked. If even after that you find there are problems, it is best to get it diagnosed by qualified professionals.

I have heard people saying when one thing goes wrong, everything starts going wrong. However, today I actually experienced this and it was not just one of those bizarre days where I couldn’t get anything done properly.

This was a bit more serious for me. It involved several appliances around the house suddenly deciding it was time for a break.

It started with my refrigerator. All of a sudden the inside light stopped working. I was in panic mode and hoped against hope it was a simple light issue and not a machine fault. Apart from all the food getting spoilt, I was also really trying to avoid a refrigerator repair job as I simply didn’t have the time or budget for it. Of course the worst case scenario of buying a new refrigerator was completely out of the question.

After some frantic searching on the internet, I tried some troubleshooting. I unplugged the refrigerator, plugged it in again and ensured there were no power issues. I also used the old school method of simply putting my hand on the sides of the refrigerator to feel for the usual vibrations. I could feel it and the fact that even after a while things seemed quite cool inside the refrigerator told me it was not a machine issue.

Well after a few calls here and there, I had a friend bring in a new bulb for my exact model from the nearest hardware store. He helped fix the bulb as well and thank my lucky stars the light came on as soon as I switched on my refrigerator once again. It was unplugged before changing the bulb.

I felt a sense of relief as I can’t imagine not having the refrigerator working for days before it gets repaired. Unfortunately though, my sense of relief soon faded when I realized my heater in my small work from home office was not working as it should.

I have one of those portable halogen heaters that swivel around slowly and distribute heat evenly. It is a simple heating solution for a small space like my makeshift home office. However, when I sat for my work, I noticed the heater was not swiveling. The fan from the heater was also making an unusual noise and was quite loud.

The heater itself was working though as I could feel the heat but it was definitely not functioning as it should have.

Now for the worst part. I tried fixing the heater as much as I could going through tutorials online on my mobile. However, nothing helped and I thought its not really that cold so this can be something I can do later. Anyways the portable heater was meant only for my workspace which I built for my work from home situation.

However, as soon as I sat for work and switched on my laptop, well guess what. It wouldn’t come on or boot up. It stayed at the Windows logo with those dots going round and round but absolutely nothing happened. It was my worst nightmare. All my files, data, clients waiting for their designs. All held hostage by my non-booting laptop.

I waited for more than 10 minutes before I forced shut the machine and tried booting it again. Same issue. Back to searching for a solution on my mobile. Most suggestions said to boot windows in safe mode and go from there. However, my laptop refused to even get to the safe mode screen. I waited and waited and waited.

Now I was really cursing my luck. First my refrigerator, then my heater and just when I thought things could not be worse, my laptop.

However, I read that sometimes when a windows update is going on it can take even couple of hours for the machine to boot and I remembered there was an update when I was shutting down the machine the previous night. So then I waited for a couple of hours patiently. Well – it did nothing. Still the dots going around in a circle.

This time though, I can again forced shut the machine and booted it once more. Thankfully this time I got the windows update notification with a percentage showing up. This went on for few minutes and finally my laptop was back on. It was crazy. The relief was incredible. I had no time to relax though as I had missed most of my work day and had to frantically get back to working.

So finally, after a day where it felt as if everything in my house needed repair, I am now back on the couch with my herbal tea, almost afraid of thinking what is going to go wrong next.

Also if you are wondering, the heater is not okay and has now stopped working completely.