Is Your Air Conditioner's Compressor Shutting Down? 3 Reasons Why It's Happening
Posted on: 10 March 2016
Your air conditioner's compressor is like the heart of your home's central cooling. It's job is to pump refrigerant through the system that cools the air, so when it stops working, the air will be warm. Here are 3 reasons why a compressor could be shutting down.
System Overheating
The unit found outside your home is the condenser, and it contains the condenser coils, the compressor, and a fan beneath the grated case. The compressor is one element of the unit that can get really hot. The fans help ventilate the condenser unit, but there can be problems that cause the whole unit to overheat and shut down.
A common problem with overheating can be grates that are blocked with debris, which can be fixed by removing any visible blockage that you see. More complicated problems include wiring that is faulty, a condenser coil that is malfunctioning, and a fan motor that is burned out. Those kinds of problems are better off left to having a professional do the repair for you.
Low or Incorrect Refrigerant
The purpose of the compressor is to accept and put out enough refrigerant to allow other parts of the unit to produce cold air. If there is not enough refrigerant in the system, there will not be a continuous flow of refrigerant going to the compressor. If there is no refrigerant in the system, the compressor will stop running because there's no refrigerant for it to output.
Not using the correct kind of refrigerant will also cause the compressor to shut down. Even though you have enough refrigerant, it will not be able to make a complete cycle in the system to get back to the condenser and the compressor. Putting the wrong refrigerant in an HVAC system is an easy mistake to make if you've never done it before, which is why it should be done by a professional.
Clogged Condenser Coils
If the condenser coils become dirty, they will start to malfunction. This is because changes that affect the coil's surface can have an impact on the chemical reaction that takes place inside them. It can lead to refrigerant not making its way back to the compressor, causing it to shut down. The dirt can also cause coils to become hot, which will lead to overheating.
The best way to make sure that any of these issues is fixed is to call an HVAC professional in your area to investigate the problem for you. To learn more, contact an air conditioning repair company like CNR Air Conditioning Inc.
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