My Air Conditioning went :(

[punkin]

OK, I will check everything suggested and let you know what happens, but I can feel my wallet shrinking anyway.

 

[tavettava]

I'm right there with you. Our's is making a buzzing noise when we turn it on and no air is coming out of the vents. Our's is 16 years old and probably needs to be replaced since we have been having problems with it for the last few years.

 

[dis-happy]

For the OP--have you checked the obvious? Check to make sure that the fuses or circuit breakers for your a/c unit are on. Go outside and stand by your external a/c unit and make sure that the external unit is running.

Yes, THIS! My friend didn't listen to me when I told her to check the circuit breaker out by her heat pump....she wasn't too happy paying $85. to have the guy flip the switch for her. You never know....good luck!

 

[crjack]

OK, I will check everything suggested and let you know what happens, but I can feel my wallet shrinking anyway.

Wishing you the best of luck! I could have written your post....our a/c is a big lemon and only 5 years old. Here in Boston we just had 2 hot, humid days and it was awful in our house.

Of course our vet bills were insane as well from a torn ACL in our lab mix dog so we are living parallel lives and budgets right now!

I hope you are able to get it repaired without breaking the bank.

 

[punkin]

I just flipped the circuit breaker (but it looked OK) and cleared grass from around the unit outside. DH has been out of town and no one had mown the grass. I just turned it on and closed the windows. Air is definitely blowing, but we will see if the house cools down. I am keeping an eye on the thermostat.

 

[mrodgers]

Good luck with figuring out the AC. Yesterday was 88 F outside and..... 88 F in the house. Wish I had the problem of trying to fix the AC, I don't have AC.

Actually I do, but we are leaving in 2 weeks for Disneyworld and I don't want to have to take it back out of the window so we can secure the house. Also, it's only hot for 1 week. Next week it should be back to normal 75ish out. Disneyworld this year, possibly central AC next year. More than likely, a car replacement though instead of AC next year. It's tough getting out of debt after 9 years of kids growing up and 1 income. 10 years in the house without AC.....

 

[punkin]

Good luck with figuring out the AC. Yesterday was 88 F outside and..... 88 F in the house. Wish I had the problem of trying to fix the AC, I don't have AC.

Actually I do, but we are leaving in 2 weeks for Disneyworld and I don't want to have to take it back out of the window so we can secure the house. Also, it's only hot for 1 week. Next week it should be back to normal 75ish out. Disneyworld this year, possibly central AC next year. More than likely, a car replacement though instead of AC next year. It's tough getting out of debt after 9 years of kids growing up and 1 income. 10 years in the house without AC.....

I don't actually mind the lack of AC (I grew up in a NYC apt in the '70s-no AC and hot and humid!). At least here there are some shade trees and a breeze. However, my DH is a wilting violet in the heat and my poor doggy is panting up a storm. Besides, it is supposed to cool down tonight after heavy rains come through.

 

[PHXscuba]

Same thing happened to us two weeks ago -- fan on the heat pump was blowing up a storm but the air was just regular air. It turned out to be the capacitor and they also replaced a partly melted part (AZ is hard on anything plastic outdoors. It wasn't horrid, only $300.

This time it was better than a few years ago (in 110-degree July) when DH let the filters get too dirty and we ended up with a 200-lb. block of ice in our upstairs unit. We had to turn the whole thing off for 36 hours to let it melt. We stayed with family and had to empty the turtle aquarium and bring it downstairs so we didn't end up with turtle soup!

If you check your filters and they're really dirty, try turning the whole unit off for about 24 hours (if you can stand it) and replacing the filter. It just might work!

Hope you have a cheap outcome,
PHXscuba

 

[punkin]

Well, it did not work. 2 hours later and it is still 84 degrees in the house. DH changed the filter about 3 weeks ago, but I will have him do it again when he gets home. The heat is supposed to stop today so I will wait to call the AC guy until tomorrow. Maybe they'll come out sometime next week (which is supposed to be pleasant temperature wise).

 

[tlh0726]

we have 2 ac units for our house. The one for the upstairs (bedrooms) is doing the same thing. The house was built in 2003. I am not looking forward to calling them tomorrow morning. I am going to go try shutting the circuit breaker off and on.

 

[tlh0726]

Flipping the circuit breaker did not work.
Had them come out to take a look at the unit. Needed freon $135.95 which included the service call and freon.
For an additional $80 the guy could have put a dye pack in. Waited a week or so and then come back out for an additional charge to use UV light to find the leak.
Ask the guy what he would do and he said if it took 7 years to leak out chances are it would be to small for them to find. So we did the freon only and will see how long it lasts.

Now dealing with a duet washer which quit draining yesterday afternoon!!
Bought in 2003 also.

 

[punkin]

just wanted to update in case anyone is interested. The system had no coolant in it at all. Apparently it was a huge leak due to a loosened bolt. No clue how or why it loosened. The good news is, there was really no repair necessary. The bad news is that the coolant and service call cost me $500. I guess I got off easy.

 

[Gigi22]

Good for you!

 

[Janet Hill]

just wanted to update in case anyone is interested. The system had no coolant in it at all. Apparently it was a huge leak due to a loosened bolt. No clue how or why it loosened. The good news is, there was really no repair necessary. The bad news is that the coolant and service call cost me $500. I guess I got off easy.

whoa!

We live in NOVA and my husband does HVAC side work and I think he needs to up his prices. No wonder his "regulars" wait for him.

 

[punkin]

whoa!

We live in NOVA and my husband does HVAC side work and I think he needs to up his prices. No wonder his "regulars" wait for him.

Almost all of the cost was for the coolant. Apparently I needed over 7lb of the stuff.

 

[Local_Girl]

I posted some ideas earlier in the thread...we are still waiting for the HVAC guy to come, and he'll be here in 2 days. In the meantime, our unit totally shut down 2 days ago, and upon inspection (by DH) it had totally frozen over. Turns out DH had recently changed the filter and put in one of those thicker, supposedly "better" filters. Apparently, it was so thick, there was no air going through it, lol. Worthless. Anyway, a quick change to a cheapy filter and some melting time, and the unit is back up and running. It still isn't cooling well, so I think we do need freon, but I just wanted to mention the filter issue, because it really created a problem for us.