When an air conditioner is blowing hot air, it could be for a variety of reasons. Your cooling unit could be blowing hot air because of a refrigerant leak, a blown breaker switch, or a damaged compressor. Your air conditioning may be blowing warm air throughout your home due to ice accumulation, cut/frayed wires, or wrong thermostat settings. The guide below will help you understand why your air conditioner is blowing hot air.
Refrigerant leak
One reason your AC unit may be blowing warm is because of a refrigerant leak. The refrigerant could be leaking due to wear and tear on the cooling system. Over time and after heavy use, the pipes carrying the refrigerant in your air conditioning will begin to weaken. So, a joint or a screw could become loose, causing the leak.
When the refrigerant is leaking, there is nothing in the air conditioning system to cool the hot air from the outside. The warm air enters the AC unit, passes over the leaking pipes that no longer hold the refrigerant, and finally leaves your cooling system as hot air which is released into your home. As a result, you do not have cold, refreshing air blowing into your home.
Refrigerants contain dangerous chemicals that are harmful if you aren’t trained to handle them. If you think you have a refrigerant leak in your air conditioning system, call us and we will dispatch a technician to look at your AC unit.
Blown breaker switch
Your outside cooling unit has a power supply that is controlled by an on/off switch. On rare occasions, the switch on your external unit could flip off. When the switch turns off, your outdoor system will not have power, and hot air will not become cold. However, air will still circulate from your outdoor unit to your indoor unit because the outdoor system does not need the power to distribute air. So, your indoor unit will pump hot air into your home that passed through your outside unit.
Sometimes, a breaker switch flips to the “off” position by accident. If that is the case, all you need to do is flip the switch. But, a breaker switch can turn “off” due to an overload of power. Your AC system uses a lot of energy. If too much electrical current is directed to your breaker switch, it will turn off. In this situation, contact us and we will send a repairman to assess the damage of your air conditioning system.
Damaged compressor
The compressor in your cooling system is an important component. The compressor takes the low-pressure, gaseous refrigerant in the evaporator and transforms it into a high-pressure, high-temperature gas before it goes into the condenser. With a broken compressor, your entire AC unit will not function properly. When your compressor is damaged, hot air will flow into your home.
Ice accumulation
When ice builds up in your home heating and cooling system, it freezes the evaporator coil. The evaporator coil cools warm air as the warm air flows over the coil. When the evaporator coil is frozen, it blocks the cool air from entering your home. As a result, warm air will stream into your home.
If the temperature inside your AC unit drops below 32 degrees Fahrenheit, the condensation forming on the coil will freeze, resulting in ice. This can happen when the air conditioning setting on your thermostat is set to the highest setting. When the air conditioning is working hard to blow the coolest air, it will freeze the water on the coil instead of letting it evaporate.
If you see an accumulation of ice on or inside your heating and cooling system, contact us so we can send an HVAC contractor to your home.
Damaged wires
Cut or frayed wires may be the reason why your AC system is blowing hot air. Wires that are damaged can make the entire cooling unit malfunction. Wires can get frayed by overheating from within the air conditioning system. Also, wires could get cut if small animals, like mice and chipmunks, chew on them. When the wires are cut or frayed, you will need a professional technician to repair the wiring.
Wrong thermostat settings
Sometimes, your thermostat setting will be set to “warm” instead of “cool”. If the thermostat is set to “warm”, then hot air will blow through your house instead of cold air. It is common for a homeowner to think there is a problem with their AC unit if hot air is entering the home. But actually, sometimes it is the thermostat that is set to “warm” that causes the warm air to flow into your home.