When warmer temperatures outside start to ramp up, the last thing you want to deal with is an AC that’s not blowing cool air. It could be as simple as a clogged filter or something more technical, like a mechanical issue. Knowing how to deal with unexpected problems and when to call a professional will keep your home cool and promote healthy indoor air quality. 

Your HVAC, or heating, ventilating, and air conditioning system, functions as the lungs of your home, says Michael Rubino, a mold and air quality expert, environmental wellness advocate, and founder of HomeCleanse, a company with a vision to end the worldwide health epidemic caused by poor air quality and toxic indoor environments. As such, it’s important to ensure that you properly maintain your system.

“If issues such as microbial growth develop in the machine, microscopic particles will blow throughout the entire building, lowering the indoor air quality and causing unwanted exposure,” Rubino explains.

Air conditioners work by sucking air into ducts through a central, large intake vent. The compressor, which, in central units, is the portion installed outside, raises the pressure and temperature of a refrigerant (in gas form), sending it to the condenser coil where it is converted to a liquid. The evaporator (or cooling) coils remove heat and humidity from the air that has been sucked into the system while a blower circulates it over the coils.

In order to effectively cool your home, an AC unit needs to be able to circulate the cold air relatively evenly throughout the entire house. When your system stops blowing cold air, there are various potential causes.

To help explain these issues and understand how to remedy them (and when to call a professional), I talked to Rubino, Traci Fournier, vice president of Operations at One Hour Heating and Air Conditioning, and Glenn Wiseman, certified technician and sales manager at Top Hat Home Comfort Services, a home improvement, maintenance and repair services company in Ontario, Canada.

Read the full article here: https://time.com/shopping/article/why-is-my-ac-not-blowing-cold-air/