General|Tips

When temperatures soar in San Diego and your air conditioning system chooses to stop working with little to no warning, you need a quick solution. Although most air conditioning problems require the knowledge of an HVAC professional, homeowners can also troubleshoot some issues.

To help you stay comfortable in your San Diego home, consider these five common HVAC problems and how to fix them.

Clogged Drain

If there’s too much humidity in your home, the condensate from the evaporator coil is collected in the condensate pan, and then poured into an indoor or outdoor drain. If either the pan or the drain is clogged with debris, water in the pan will back up and shut down your A/C unit. Make sure your A/C system is clean and properly mounted both indoor and outdoor.

Dirty Filter

A dirty filter is caused by dust buildup in the evaporator coil, preventing airflow and reducing absorption of heat. Additionally, dust buildup on the fan and compressor can cause a premature system failure. Inspect the filter after 30 days and change it when it’s caked with dust to cut down allergens.

Leaking Refrigerant

Check your air conditioner’s refrigerant levels regularly. If it’s too low, it may have been slightly undercharged during installation. Contact a professional to locate any leaks and to repair and recharge the refrigerant levels as indicated by the manufacturer.

Broken Thermostat

If your air conditioner is regularly running, but your home is still hot, check the thermostat. A malfunctioning thermostat will indicate a lower temperature different from your home’s actual temperature. If resetting it doesn’t work, contact a technician.

Electronic Control and Sensor Failure

These are probably the first elements of an A/C system to wear out, particularly if your unit is oversized. Check the connections, and ensure they’re still in place.

If you’re like a lot of homeowners, you have good intentions when it comes to taking care of your home’s heating and cooling system. Yet, you’re living a busy life, and it’s not easy to remember simple but essential maintenance tasks. One of the easiest to forget is checking the air filter in your furnace, A/C or heat pump system. Yet, allowing the filter to clogged with dust can reap negative consequences in wasted energy, eroded comfort, and reduced indoor air quality.

Why is the Air Filter Important?

The filter performs an essential job. It sifts out dust and other airborne debris that otherwise will coat HVAC components and make it difficult for the equipment to operate properly. Higher-efficiency filters also filter out airborne contaminants, protecting the health of home occupants with allergies and respiratory ailments. When the filter gets clogged with dust, however, your HVAC system must work harder to draw air into the equipment and circulate it throughout the home. This wastes energy, stresses parts and reduces home comfort as some parts of the house stay too hot or too cold.

Tips for Remembering to Check the Filter

Most furnace and A/C filters should be inspected monthly and changed when they look clogged. So how do you remember to check the filter every month?

• If it’s time for an upgrade, install a new HVAC system that comes with a “check-filter” light.
• Some programmable Wi-Fi thermostats will send a message to your smartphone or computer when it’s time to check or change the filter. You can also program monthly reminders into your phone or computer.
• Incorporate a filter inspection into other monthly household tasks. For example, place a reminder in your checkbook to inspect the air filter at the start of each month when you’re paying bills.
• Purchase several filters, and leave the unused ones in a conspicuous location as a reminder.

Weatherizing your home is easy if you understand how cooling loads work. Every home has a unique cooling load or the amount of cooled air your home requires to stay comfortable inside. What is not unique to a home, however, is how cooling is lost. Most homes lose valuable cooled air in many of the same ways, and these five tips will help you succeed in weatherizing your home against summer’s heat.

1. Stop heat from gaining access to your home. If your home has air leaks, it’s likely that you’re losing a portion of your cooled air, as outside heat can get inside your home via these leaks. To keep heat out, using caulk or weather stripping to seal leaks around attic hatches, walls, basement windows, ducts, and window and door frames in the home’s exterior, as well as electrical and plumbing protrusions.
2. Keep heat from the sun out. Heat gain through windows is another way that homeowners can lose energy. Consider installing sunscreens or reflective films or using window treatments to block the sun’s rays from raising the temperature inside your home.
3. Prevent heat transfer. As the sun heats up the outside of your home, its insulation is designed to stop thermal transfer through the home’s building materials, which would then heat up the inside of your home. If you haven’t upgraded home insulation in awhile, consider having it professionally inspected.
4. Minimize heat gain from heat-generating equipment inside your home. The equipment you use inside your home can also generate heat, and thereby raise your home’s temperature, causing your A/C to work overtime to compensate for those losses. By keeping lights off and making sure certain equipment like your dryer is vented outside, you can minimize heat gain.
5. Restrict heat-generating activities. The activities that you and your family do inside the home can also generate heat, such as using your stove or oven. Try to schedule heat-generating activities during cooler hours of the day.