Heating and AC Repair Tips | Azle, TX
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Coming home to an unusually cold or hot house after a long day’s work is a nightmare. But when your furnace, oil burner, or air con is on the fritz, the last thing you need is to experiment with DIY heating and AC repairs. There are some things glue and duct tape simply can’t fix, so save yourself the time and trouble and look up an expert in Azle, TX.
That said, if you know your way around appliances, it’s worth giving your appliance at least a thorough inspection before you take your frazzled self to the phone book or online directory. After all, people are too quick to dispose of appliances these days, instead of repairing them. Ironically, some heating and AC repairs only require basic skills. If you’re confident you can handle it, here are a few things you should check before you make your decision.
1. Leaking Air Con Unit
Before you touch your AC unit, first check the area around your air conditioner to see if there’s water dripping from it or pooling around it. If your AC unit is outside, you may need to cut off the power supply and carefully reposition it.
Leaks could indicate that the drain line is clogged. This blockage could be causing the drain pan attached to the evaporator coil to overflow. The evaporator would then drain outside or within the house, on the walls, ceiling, or floor, depending on how and where it’s positioned.
Quick Heating and AC Repair Tip
The most common fix in this situation is to use a long wire, but a straightened-up wire coat hanger would also do. Poke inside the mouth of the drainpipe with this wire to clear away the blockage. As a last resort before calling a heating and AC repairs specialist, use a pressure hose to blast a small jet of water through the drain trap, taking extra care not to let the drain pan overflow. If all else fails, turn off the AC and try to get hold of a licensed HVAC technician who operates within Azle, TX and the wider area.
When to Call the Cavalry
If you notice a large leak or you see that the circuit breaker is dripping, waste no time getting away from the appliance. Power off your AC unit right away. Then call a heating and AC repair technician; the closer they live to your home the better. Luckily, there’s no shortage of experienced, licensed professionals in Azle, TX who could easily and safely repair your AC unit.
2. No Cool Air Coming from AC Unit
If there’s no visible leak, check to see if the system turns on and off properly. If your air-conditioning unit is running, but it doesn’t cool consistently, you could be looking at an issue with the refrigerant. The whole system would need to be recharged. But there are a variety of issues that could cause the AC unit not to power up at all; the most obvious one being the power supply. Assuming that’s out of the question, look at some of the other obvious culprits.
Quick Heating and AC Repair Tip
If the system doesn’t power up at all even though power supply is not an issue, your go-to is the thermostat. Check that it’s set to cool. Next, look at the circuit breaker and make sure it’s switched to ‘On’. Then look at any other switch or connection.
When to Call a Specialist
If the AC system still doesn’t come on, unplug it and call your friendly heating and AC repairs expert from Azle, TX. If you hear strange noises coming from the compressor unit or the condenser, don’t delay.
3. The Furnace Doesn’t Heat Up
As a basic safety precaution, furnaces should be checked every year. Make it a point to call months in advance to schedule a tune-up for your oil burner. Before you operate an oil burner, you should also make sure that you have working detectors for smoke and carbon monoxide around the house.
If you’ve kept up with your yearly tune-ups and the mercury is plummeting before your very eyes, and you can’t add extra layers on fast enough, check if the furnace is working properly. Look for a shutoff switch, which is usually wall-mounted. Then replace the fuse and look at the circuit breaker. If it still doesn’t power up, don’t underestimate the value of the shiny red reset button by the burner.
Quick Heating and AC Repair Tip
For oil burners, this button can trip every now and then. If the burner fires right back up when you press this button, your worries are over. But if you press it once and nothing happens, don’t press again. Even the burner kick-started again, it’s best to look into the problem that caused this reset to begin with. If you can’t find the underlying cause, look for professional advice before you try any DIY heating and AC repairs.
When to Call a Pro
Sometimes resetting is all it takes to fire the burner back up. But if this is not the case, then it’s a sign of a bigger problem. It’s time to call One Hour Air Conditioning and Heating for your heating and AC repair needs. Check for some of These other tell-tale signs:
- Chimney smoke. If you’ve been putting this problem off for some time, and soot has been building up in the boiler room, your combustion problem may finally have caught up with you.
- Frequent cycles. Burners come on and back off several times per day. If it doesn’t power off, so it’s stuck in a continuous loop, the controls may need adjusting, or there may be a blockage somewhere.
- Unpleasant smell. You should never be able to sense any smells coming from an oil heat system. Odors could indicate oil leaks or combustion problems. Both should be dealt with by a specialist.