Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning

Even the best air conditioner needs a little time to do what it's supposed to do. On a hot day, you might turn the unit on and wait impatiently for that cold air to begin wafting out of the unit's ducts. Your impatience may quickly turn to confusion. Why is your air conditioner producing warm air?

Check the Settings

To ask the obvious, is your air conditioner doing what it's supposed to do when it's producing warm air? Many split system air conditioners can both cool and warm the air, so the first thing you should do is check that nobody has changed the unit's settings. It might be that your problem can be solved with the push of a button.

Air Filters

If the settings haven't been altered, you need to think about the most logical reason for the unit's behaviour. It might be doing the best it can under the circumstances, but its efforts are hampered by dirty filters. These are easily accessible (usually directly behind the ducts in the wall) and can be removed. They can be cleaned in warm, soapy water and allowed to dry before being reinstalled. Alternatively, the level of accumulated dust can mean that replacing the filters is more sensible. Dirty filters cause the unit to have to work harder, and this can cause it to overheat, which may explain that warm air you're feeling.

Another Obstruction 

But perhaps the unit's filters are perfectly clean, meaning that the warm air being produced remains a mystery. There may be an obstruction inside the unit's internal ducts, and this can have a similar effect to a dirty air filter—forcing the unit to work harder until it begins to overheat and produce warm air. This scenario is fairly unlikely since it's practically impossible for anything beyond dust to gather inside the ductwork, which is a closed system. 

Refrigerant Loss

The issue could be found with your unit's refrigerant (the chemical compound that helps it to cool air). This refrigerant is also within a closed system, and its flow is limited to the unit's coils. It simply flows through these coils in a continuous cycle when the unit is switched on. This continuous cycle means that it's rare that refrigerant needs to be topped up, however, this can be the case if there's a leak in your coils, and the unit is actively losing refrigerant. This issue must be repaired by a qualified air conditioner contractor, who can also replace any lost refrigerant.

Unless it's been specifically set to do so, an air conditioner shouldn't be producing warm air. By the process of elimination, you should be able to get to the bottom of the problem, allowing you (or more realistically, a qualified contractor) to correct the issue.

For more information on air conditioning, contact a company near you.