Why Can’t My Air Conditioning System Keep Up When It’s Hot?
We’ll start off today’s blog with a bit of AC trivia: the first completely air conditioned home was built right here in Minneapolis. It was a mansion for millionaire Charles Gate, heir to the barbed wire fortune. But Mr. Gates never go to enjoy his cooled home, since he died in a hunting accident before construction was complete.
On to more immediate concerns… when your air conditioning system isn’t able to keep up with your demands for cooling.
There are a number of reasons why an AC might start to struggle with the summer heat, and most of them will require work from air conditioning repair professionals to correct. Below are some of the possible causes for an AC that can’t keep up:
- Damaged ductwork: The problem may not be an issue within the cooling system, but the ventilation system. If your ducts have air leaks in them, it will raise the temperature of the air inside, and that means less cool air around your home. You can call on our home performance specialist for duct sealing to solve this problem.
- Loss of refrigerant: An air conditioner is supposed to run on a set amount of refrigerant, called its charge. But refrigerant can leak from the system, and this will cut into its cooling power. It will eventually lead to damage to the compressor, so don’t delay when calling for repairs!
- Miscalibrated thermostat: Something small like the thermostat can actually have a large impact on the effectiveness of the HVAC system. If your home’s thermostat is reading incorrect temperatures, it will turn the AC on and off at the wrong times, which will result in a house that’s too hot. (Or, in some cases, too cold.)
- Undersized AC: Is your air conditioner a recent installation? Then the problem might be that it’s not powerful enough to keep up with your demands. This is one of the reasons to always call on experienced professionals for installation, since they have the knowledged and training to see that you have a correctly sized system.
