Touchstone Heating & Air Inc. Blog: Posts Tagged ‘Air Conditioning Repair’

Why the Upper Floor of Your House Gets Too Hot

Monday, July 27th, 2020

thermometer-going-redOne of the common problems with air conditioning in Lake Butler, FL that we often help to fix is uneven cooling. Providing even cooling throughout even a medium-sized home is difficult, and it takes technicians with experience to ensure whatever AC system is installed for the house can deliver appropriate cooling to all the rooms. Some basic malfunctions in an air conditioner can lead to an imbalance in the house, with some locations receiving comfortable temperatures, and others growing too hot.

And the uneven cooling problem we encounter the most often is when the upstairs of a two-story house is hotter than it should be. The second story already faces challenges for cooling (heat rising, radiant heat coming through the roof), so if the AC starts to have problems, the upper floor will suffer first.

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AC Short-Cycling—What Might Cause It

Monday, June 15th, 2020

service-tools-air-conditionersYou may not have heard of ­short-cycling, but you may have noticed it in your house. It’s when your air conditioning system turns on and off more often than normal. Your air conditioner’s cooling cycle is the process of it turning on at a request from the thermostat, running until it registers the house has reached the thermostat setting, then shutting down until the thermostat makes a request again. Most AC cycles last for 15 minutes or more, and if you keep the thermostat at the same setting during the day, the cycles should have a steady pattern.

When that pattern becomes the AC turning on and off multiple times over an hour—less than 15 minutes on at a time—then it’s short-cycling.

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What Can Cause AC Fans to Stop Working?

Monday, June 1st, 2020

desk-fanYour air conditioning system has two fans that are essential for it to work. The fan you’re most used to hearing and feeling is the indoor blower fan. This fan is located at the bottom of the HVAC cabinet, where it pulls air from the return air ducts and then pushes it past the evaporator coil, where it’s cooled, and then into the ventilation system.

The second fan is in the condenser cabinet outside. This fan draws air through the grill of the cabinet to run it across the condenser coil and release heat. The fan then pushes this heat through the top of the cabinet.

If either fan stops working, you won’t have a cool home. A broken indoor fan means air won’t move through the ducts. A broken outdoor fan means the AC can’t effectively release the heat it drew from indoors and won’t cool down the home’s air.

What causes these fans to break, and what can you do about it?

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How to Stop AC Drain Clogs

Monday, May 4th, 2020

washing-an-air-conditionerYou might see the words drain clogs in the title and think, “Wait, Touchstone isn’t a plumbing company.” True, but we’re air conditioning professionals with a long history of helping people stay cool in Florida weather, and so we know all about a specific type of drain clog: the air conditioning system drain clog.

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Your Air Conditioning System Has Its Limits

Monday, September 9th, 2019

young-woman-shiversIn the Florida fall weather, home air conditioners still put in plenty of work—and sometimes they’ll hit their limit and need air conditioning repair in Newberry, FL.

We want to discuss air conditioning system limits in greater detail so our customers can understand what their ACs can and cannot do. An AC is not an unending supply of cooling that works against the heat no matter what—it has limitations, and we’re going to look closer at them.

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The AC Cooling Cycle: How Long Should It Last?

Monday, August 26th, 2019

AC-plastic-grateA problem our technicians often address in air conditioning systems is short-cycling. This is when an air conditioner becomes trapped in the start-up cycle so it doesn’t complete a regular cycle. The thermostat activates the compressor to begin cooling down the house, but for some reason, the compressor shuts down early. Soon after, the compressor starts again, only to shut down early once more… and the process repeats.

Most of the time, short-cycling requires professional air conditioning repair in Alachua, FL to fix. No matter what, don’t allow your AC to continue this stop-and-start routine. It increases wear on the system and endangers the compressor. You might end up with a dead AC years before its time. And you will certainly have higher electrical bills because the start-up cycle uses the most amount of power of any part of an AC’s operation.

But to understand when an AC is short-cycling, you have to understand how long a “regular” cooling cycle lasts. Let’s get into the details …

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The Moldy AC—It Happens!

Monday, July 29th, 2019

virus-cellsNobody likes talking about mold in homes. It’s icky and unpleasant. And, in the case of black mold, it’s downright dangerous. Unfortunately, living in a humid place like Florida means we have to confront the reality of mold and mildew sometimes cropping up in our homes. A good defense is the best way to keep these troubles away.

Our expertise when it comes to unwanted mold is when the mold occurs inside a home’s air conditioning system. This can happen, and happen more often than anybody would like. For a number of reasons, ACs can encounter bad mold and mildew problems, which hinder their ability to function, send awful smells around a house, and even spread black mold spores everywhere.

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My AC Is Running Constantly—What’s Wrong?

Monday, May 20th, 2019

air-conditioner-maintenance-tools

When the summer heat ramps up in Florida, it can be searingly hot. On some days it may feel as if you have to run your air conditioning system constantly.

But there’s a difference in needing to keep your air conditioner on and your air conditioner’s compressor never cycling down. When the compressor just continues to run and run, then there’s something wrong. The compressor is designed to run through cooling cycles, which is why under normal circumstances you’ll hear the compressor kick in periodically during the day. When it never shuts off, you probably need air conditioning repair in Lake City, FL from professionals.

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A Helpful AC Tip to Clean the Condensate Drain

Monday, April 22nd, 2019

water-dropletsIt’s time to get down to the nitty gritty of your air conditioning system. It’s about to shoulder an immense amount of work as the hot and humid season in Florida settles in, and you don’t want it to go up against the heat without the proper preparations.

One of the essential  air conditioning services in Lake City, FL to schedule is professional preventive maintenance. Nothing is better at fixing up an AC for another summer. Our Energy Savings Agreement is the fast, easy, and affordable way to set this up.

But once the professional maintenance inspection and tune-up is done, there are a few maintenance jobs you can do over the season, such as changing the air filter and cleaning the condensate drain—which we’re going to examine below.

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Is It Too Early to Think About AC Maintenance?

Monday, February 25th, 2019

air-conditioner-unit-being-repairedMost HVAC contractors recommend their customers schedule maintenance for their air conditioning systems during the spring. This fits the maintenance in at an ideal time, when the weather is starting to warm up but isn’t yet warm enough to make an AC necessary. HVAC contractors are less busy in this period, making scheduling simple.

The situation is a bit different in Florida. The official start of spring isn’t until the third week of March, but our weather can warm up much faster with higher humidity. It’s a good idea to be prepped for hot conditions starting in April.

So if you’re already thinking about arranging for AC maintenance here in late February—that’s good! We think it’s best to arrange for your regular maintenance before the rush of other homeowners who realize the weather is starting to turn hot.

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