{"id":403,"date":"2011-08-10T08:00:23","date_gmt":"2011-08-10T12:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polarbearairconditioning.com\/blog\/?p=403"},"modified":"2011-08-02T13:56:41","modified_gmt":"2011-08-02T17:56:41","slug":"breakdowns-%e2%80%93-how-to-handle-an-overloaded-ac-in-washington-dc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.polarbearairconditioning.com\/blog\/air-conditioning\/breakdowns-%e2%80%93-how-to-handle-an-overloaded-ac-in-washington-dc\/","title":{"rendered":"Breakdowns \u2013 How to Handle an Overloaded AC in Washington DC"},"content":{"rendered":"

The last thing you need on a hot summer day in Washington is for your air conditioner<\/a> to suddenly cut out. Without the cooling power it provides, your house will get uncomfortable quickly. Fortunately, once you know why this happens, there are several things you can do about it.<\/p>\n

Why Air Conditioners Cut Out<\/h3>\n

The most common reason for air conditioner failure is an overabundance of pressure in the unit. This happens because the coil gets too hot, causing the pressure to rise in the entire device. As the pressure rises past a certain point, an automatic safety shutoff system is engaged. If you can stop the coil from heating up to this point, you can keep your air conditioner running.<\/p>\n

How to Keep Them Running<\/h3>\n

Of course, this is easier said than done. Since your condenser unit with the coil inside is located outside in the heat, it\u2019s only natural for it to get hot during the day \u2013 especially an extra hot day when you\u2019re using your air conditioner a lot. You also need to be careful not to put anything over or up against your outdoor condenser unit.<\/p>\n

While this may block the sunlight, it will also keep heat in the system and prevent the air conditioner from removing exhaust naturally. So in order to keep your air conditioner as cool as possible, make sure there is nothing up against the vents or impeding air flow in any way. Once you\u2019ve done this, try and find a way to provide shade for you air conditioner without placing objects near the device. Blocking out direct sunlight is the best way to keep your air conditioner cool as long as you can do it without interfering with the system\u2019s natural air flow.<\/p>\n

Getting it Back On<\/h3>\n

If your unit does cut out on you, don\u2019t despair. The best thing to do is to wait about a half hour to give your unit a chance to cool off on its own. Then, spray the coil and other overheated areas with a fine mist of cool water. This should lower the temperature enough that the system can come back on without any further complications.<\/p>\n

If the problem persists despite the work you\u2019ve done to keep it cool, you may want to call in a professional<\/a> to take a look and make sure nothing is broken or worn inside to cause the overloads. Most of the time a little maintenance will take care of the problem, but if not, you\u2019ll want to get repairs done quickly to avoid a full breakdown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The last thing you need on a hot summer day in Washington is for your air conditioner to suddenly cut out. Without the cooling power it provides, your house will get uncomfortable quickly. Fortunately, once you know why this happens, there are several things you can do about it. The most common reason for air conditioner failure is an overabundance of pressure in the unit. This happens because the coil gets too hot, causing the pressure to rise in the entire device. As the pressure rises past a certain point, an automatic safety shutoff system is engaged. If you can stop the coil from heating up to this point, you can keep your air conditioner running.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[212,214,83],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.polarbearairconditioning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.polarbearairconditioning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.polarbearairconditioning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.polarbearairconditioning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.polarbearairconditioning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.polarbearairconditioning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":405,"href":"https:\/\/www.polarbearairconditioning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403\/revisions\/405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.polarbearairconditioning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.polarbearairconditioning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.polarbearairconditioning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}