My Central Air Conditioner Won’t Turn On; What Should I Do?

As it starts to get warmer and you turn on your air conditioner for the first time this season, what do you do if it doesn’t turn on? Follow these four east trouble shooting steps as possibly save an unnecessary service call for central air repair.

Step1) Make a trip down into the basement and check your electrical panel. If the breaker is tripped the switch will be halfway between ?on? and ?off? and the window on the breaker will show red. Turn the switch to the ?off? position then back to the ?on? position. If it trips again it means there is a dead short somewhere and you need to call for service. If the switch is in the ?on? position but your air conditioner still isn?t working, head back upstairs.

Step 2) Make sure your thermostat is set on ?cool? mode and that the temperature is set lower than the house temperature by at least two degrees. Still not working? Head out to the yard.

Step 3) If the air conditioning unit is blowing inside but not running outside, head outside to the condenser and check the disconnect box on the condenser. Some condensers have an on/off switch and some just have a kill switch to shut everything down totally for maintenance purposes. Turn the switch off and wait for a minute then turn it back on again.

Step 4) If after all that, your air conditioner still isn?t working, visually look at the cord coming out of the condenser. It should be a small brown cord with only two wires in it. See if the cord is broken or even chewed through by small critters. If the cord appears undamaged, it?s time to call for ac service. Wilbur Henry is happy to be there if you need us to stay cool this summer. Just contact us!