What to do when there’s no air conditioning
There’s nothing more aggravating than turning on your air conditioner and discovering that it is not working. You make sure the thermostat is set to the right settings. You make sure the unit is receiving power. And, it’s still not turning on.
Do you want to know the worst thing you can do for your air conditioner? Attempt to fix it yourself. Too often, a contractor will come across a problem that could have been prevented with proper maintenance, repair or installation by a well-trained hand.
If you discover your air conditioner isn’t turning on, here are the next steps you should take:
Pick up the phone and call a reputable contractor. It’s important that the professional you hire is ready to do a great job on your air conditioning repair. If you think it’s expensive to pay for a quality contractor, just try hiring a hack. You may end up paying a bunch for diagnosis and never receiving an adequate repair.
DO NOT attempt to fix your air conditioner yourself. DIY air conditioner maintenance, repairs and installations can result in significant problems for your air conditioner. Not to mention it can be downright dangerous to go poking around in your unit.
Remember, patience is a virtue. Contractors become very busy during the summer. It can take a while for a contractor to make it to your home, or you may have to pay more for expedited emergency service. A good contractor will always be worth the wait.
Find ways to keep cool while waiting for your contractor. Use fans to your advantage. Avoid using the stove or oven – crockpots and grills are great alternatives! Do not go in and out of the house too much. Keep windows closed, unless it gets cooler at night. There are many ways to keep cool. After all, central air conditioning in homes did not become widespread until the ’60s!
Need a place to start the contractor search? You can check out the Maytag HVAC contractor locator.
Thanks for the great tips, when needing maintenance on our air conditioner. My husband isn’t the most patient and your advice to allow time for the contractor to make it out of the home is very important, hit a cord. I really appreciate you explaining their situation, so we can understand why we need to wait even a few days until a contract could come out to our home. Hopefully, we can find someone to come out and fix it soon.
I appreciate that you recommend not to try to fix the AC unit yourself. I can see why this might end up making the problem worse. It might be best to call the professional early on so that you don’t have to wait until it gets worse.
I agree, never try and fix the AC unit yourself, could end up costing you a substantial amount later on
According to you, DIY repairs and maintenance of the AC unit can be both dangerous for me and problematic for our AC unit because obviously, I don’t know what’s what. We’ve been hearing a lot of strange noises coming from the AC unit since last Saturday, and I want to know what’s going on. I think it might be best to call a professional HVAC contractor to get this checked out rather than doing it personally. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for your comment about how an AC unit should only be installed or repaired by an HVAC professional. I appreciate how you said that doing it DIY is extremely dangerous. My husband and I are looking into trained and professional contractors to repair our air conditioning unit.
I didn’t know that, “DIY air conditioner maintenance, repairs and installations can result in significant problems for your air conditioner.” I guess I won’t attempt to fix my own air conditioning. The problem is that I don’t know if it needs repair or total replacement. I will need to look into who I need to contact more.
I think it would be a good idea to call an air conditioning contractor to fix the AC. My fiance and I are trying to look into ways to stay cool while the contractor gets there. We will be sure to use fans to our advantage and not use the stove.
My favorite part of this article is when you emphasized that we must NOT attempt to fix our air conditioner by ourselves. This is what happened when my cousin tried to fix a smelly unit. He just thought it might be a dead rat inside it. However, after opening, she cannot restore it anymore.
Thanks for the information that it may take a while for a contractor to make it to your home to fix your air conditioning but that it’s worth the wait for a good one. My air conditioning just went out today so I was looking for how to find a good company to fix it. I’ll have to remember that once I find one that they may not be able to come to my house right away since otherwise I would’ve been pretty impatient.
Our AC unit just barely stopped working. We’re desperate to fix it because it’s so hot, but I’ll remember what you said here. Patience is definitely a virtue, and waiting for a few days for a reputable contractor is probably the best thing we can do.
Thank you for suggesting that when your AC isn’t working it is best if you leave it to a professional to fix in order to avoid further damage. My husband and I noticed that our AC isn’t blowing cool air. I’ll have to look into finding the best maintenance company in our area to come and fix it for us.
As you mentioned, a contractor often comes across a problem that could have been prevented with proper maintenance, so the best thing to do when your AC stops working is to not touch it! My AC went out in the middle of the night last night, so I’m going to look for an HVAC contractor in my area. My mom and sister are coming to my house in a few days, so I want to get this problem dealt with as soon as I can.
It’s great you elaborated on the importance of contacting an air conditioning repairman especially when the AC unit doesn’t want to turn on since they’re the ones who’re qualified to fix the problem since they know what’s wrong and can easily repair it without you having to touch the AC unit and causing further damage. Another thing to keep in mind is that self-repairing the air conditioning unit is always a bad idea especially if you don’t know what’s causing the problem and might end up racking more in expenses for the actual repairs down the road. If I had the chance to work as an air conditioning repairman, I would always advise clients not to touch the aircon themselves and leave the fixing to the professionals.
You’ve got good advice for hiring an HVAC contractor. I like how you said that we shouldn’t try to fix our AC unit ourselves. If it causes more problems, I agree! Our unit has been making weird noises, so I’ll have to find a pro to come and take a look.
I have friends that have had their air conditioners go down in the summer. I agree that you would want to hire an HVAC contractor immediately to come out to you. It is good advice to watch what you eat so that you do not warm your house.
That’s good to know that you should never try to repair your air conditioner by yourself since that can cause more problems that you’ll need to get fixed. This is helpful since my AC makes a clinking sound when I turn it on and I was going to open it up to see what it was. I’ll have to find a contractor I can have come take a look at it to see if a piece is broken or loose so I can get it repaired and it’ll be quiet again.
You made a great point when you said to leave air conditioner repair to the professionals since DIY repairs can result in significant problems to your system. My father has been renovating his house so that he can raise its value and sell it for a profit. His heater and air conditioner have not worked in a few weeks, so he may want to have a contractor go and repair them.
I didn’t realize there was danger trying to fix your own unit. Recently, my house has been getting really hot. I’ll have to look more into air conditioning repair services.
It came as a shock to me that when I turned on my air conditioner yesterday, it was not cooling my home at all. Thanks for suggesting that I should try to make sure that the thermostat is set at the right settings, so I’ll be checking the manual first. However, if it still does not work, I think I’ll be calling someone to repair this.