Air Conditioning Not Blowing Cold Air | Kitchener ON

Is Your Air Conditioning Not Blowing Cold Air?

Summer is coming up fast and homeowners are scrambling to make sure their air conditioning is up to par when it is needed most. The worst experience is an air conditioner blowing warm or stale air on a hot summer’s day.

Air conditioning is often left unused in the colder months of the year. And when the weather finally warms up, poor maintenance may result in an underperforming air conditioner.

So What Causes Air Conditioning To Blow Warm/Stale Air?

There are a few reasons why your air conditioner may blow hot and stale air. Let’s look at a few of these reasons.

Low Refrigerant/Refrigerant Leakage

A common cause of air conditioning not producing cold air is that the refrigerant levels are very low. Refrigerant is used to cool the air. A low refrigerant level will result in warm stale air. For new air conditioning, refrigerant levels normally don’t deplete much, unless there is a leak.

Older air conditioning systems almost always require a refrigerant top up every 12-18 months.

Duct Leaks

This is a common issue that many homeowners face. A hole in the ducts, even a smallish one, could result in a significant loss in cooling efficiency. When cold air is lost through leakage, it goes into the roof or wall spaces, instead of being blown out of the vents. You will experience a much weaker airflow and warmer air, due to the fact that some coldness would be lost as well.

It’s not easy to detect duct leaks but service techs have their methods for detection. Although this is a time consuming process, it is necessary to check through all ductwork to ensure there is no duct leakage.

Zone Motor Poorly Installed Or Needs Adjustment

A zone motor controls the amount of airflow going into a zone. If you notice one of your zones not blowing cold air, while others are fine, it’s likely that you may need that zone’s motor adjusted.

It may be that the installer has set the zone setting too small, resulting in a much lower airflow through to the vents in that zone. This is a quick fix and can be resolved without many challenges.

Incorrect Settings

Fundamental as it may sound, sometimes the fault does lie with the user. Not all homeowners are savvy enough to figure out all the controls for their air conditioning system.

When an air conditioning unit is not blowing cold air, it could sometimes be due to certain settings. For instance, if it’s manually set to the Heat instead of Cool, or when the cooling range is set too high while the mode is set to Auto (eg. 25-30°).

Some testing on the remote control can quickly resolve issues with incorrect settings. Unfortunately, air conditioning manuals are often not too descriptive in their instructions. So homeowners will need to research online and on forums to get a clearer picture of how settings work.

Or you could just leave it to the service techs to check things out.

It is highly frustrating when your air conditioning is blowing hot air in summer. The best thing to do is to get it resolved as soon as possible. Start with your air conditioning installer (if it’s new). Alternatively, you should call your air conditioning manufacturer’s tech support and open a support ticket.

They will then outsource the service call to a technician located near your area. If your air conditioning is within the warranty period, you do not need to pay for anything, unless replacement parts are required. Do note that warranty only covers manufacturing faults and not usage related issues.

Need help with air conditioning?

Contact Jim’s Heating and Cooling today and we’ll be round to help in no time!