Imagine being perfectly fine at home then suddenly feeling that the temperature inside is no longer comfortable anymore. The worst thing that could happen is having your air conditioner break down at the peak of summer. This could happen to you and you need to be prepared.
The first thing that you need to do is act quickly. If your air conditioner is not working anymore, do not panic, call an HVAC specialist. It may be the case that you want to check it out yourself first, however, we recommend avoiding wasting any time as your home can get hot in a matter of minutes.
If you call an air conditioner specialist as soon as you realize your air conditioner is broken, then chances are they can get to your home the same day. If you phone late in the day, then worst case looking at the next morning.
Now you know what you should do, we would also like to be honest with you about what you should not do. Remember that if you do something wrong while the specialist is on his/her way, you may damage your air conditioner even more and make it more difficult (and expensive) to fix it.
Keep using the air conditioner
If your air conditioner is broken, there are two ways in which you typically detect it. The first would be due to a total shut down of the system. In this case, you won’t be able to turn it on again. So all that is left to do is call an air conditioning technician.
However, there are some situations where the air conditioner will still work. Even when it won’t work properly, you will be able to use it. But this is not recommended at all! If you detect a failure in the operation of the system, turn it off immediately.
Keep in mind that if you continue to use the air conditioner you can cause even more damage and make it harder to fix it. This could represent more money for you. So please, at the moment you realize your air conditioner is broken, turn it off, call the specialist, and wait patiently for someone to come and assess/fix the problem.
Leave your air conditioner like that
When your air conditioner is not working properly you can notice it right away. If your air conditioner is not cooling like it used to, or you feel heat air instead of cooling air, these are clear signals that something is wrong with your air conditioner and you can’t just ignore it.
You would be surprised by how many people just think, “oh well I do not have time for this” and just leave their air conditioners like that. You cannot ignore the problem and you cannot ignore these obvious signs of malfunction.
Remember that at some point the problem will get bigger. This will only represent a bigger headache for you, more money to spend on the repair, or having to replace the whole aircon system.
Try to fix the air conditioner by yourself
There are some things that you could do by yourself when it comes to performing maintenance on your air conditioner. For example, you can and should clean the filters regularly or you can restart the aircon by yourself if something is not working properly. However, actually fixing your air conditioner is not something that you should perform on your own.
Many people that think, “how difficult this could be?”. Please trust that is not as simple as you may think it is. For this reason, HVAC specialists spend years studying and training to do their job.
Staying at home
As we said before, on summer days your home can get hot within minutes if your air conditioning is not working properly. For this reason, on hot days, we recommend you look at leaving your house while you wait for the technician to arrive.
Keep in mind that at a certain point, this could even become dangerous for your health as your body is not able to cool itself. You can suffer from heat exhaustion, heat cramps, heat rash, and even a heat stroke. It’s not worth risking it.
You can spend your time at a shopping centre or cinema, visit family and friends, go for a drive, or even just spend the day outside in the backyard. Any of these can help improve the situation and reduce the risk of heat illness.
Use heat-generating appliances
If your air conditioner will take some time to get fixed, try to limit the use of heat-generating appliances indoors in the meantime. Keep in mind that not having air conditioning on hot days is already hard, so imagine adding more heat to the environment. The indoor environment can become unbearable.
For this reason, try to switch your stove or oven to an outdoor grill instead. Try not to use the washing machine, drier, or dishwasher during the day or at all. You can try to do these things in an old fashioned way, often by hand. Finally, turn off the lights that you are not using and keep your computer and TV unplugged when you are not using them.
Not having a plan b
Having a broken air conditioner is something that may happen to all of us but, as mentioned, you need to be prepared. We recommend that you have a portable air conditioner so you can use it in a situation like this. A portable air conditioner is not the same as having your air conditioner fixed, however, this can avoid you suffering from excessive heat indoors.
Also, you need to be informed on how to keep cool without an air conditioner. This is especially handy if the repair is going to take a long time.
For example, you should know that the worst thing you can do may be to open the windows at certain times of the day because you will only be letting in more heat into your home. Also, you should keep your windows and curtains closed when your air conditioner is not working.
We hope you found this guide useful and now that you know what you should not do if your AC is broken. Keep in mind what you have to do, and call an HVAC specialist to get your AC repaired as soon as possible.
