The point of having a central air conditioning system in a home is to provide a spread of cool air throughout most of the rooms. Although you can expect a few rooms to get a bit warmer than others because of sunlight exposure or room placement, your home’s central AC should be able to handle providing comfort everywhere with an even distribution of cool air.
If you start to find that some rooms are hotter than normal when the AC is running, there may be a repair issue with the air conditioner. Or it may be ready for a replacement. We’ll look over some of the possible causes for your air conditioning system to unevenly cool the house.
Clogged air filter
This is the simplest explanation. If the air filter for the HVAC system stays in place for too long (it needs to be changed every 1 to 3 months), it will choke off airflow into the ventilation system. Not enough cool air will reach the more distant parts of the ductwork, leading to uneven cooling. Change the dirty air filter to see if this resolves the issue.
Leaking air ducts
Gaps and holes along the air ducts will allow cool air to escape before it can reach certain rooms. These air leaks not only cause uneven cooling, they will force the AC to work harder to make up for the lost air and cause air pressure throughout the ventilation system to drop. You’ll need professionals to test the ducts, locate the leaks, and then seal them.
Faulty thermostats or zone control system
The central thermostat for your house might be incorrectly reading temperatures so that it shuts down the air conditioner early before it can fully cool the house. If you have a zone control system for your home, the problem might come from faulty zone thermostats that aren’t allowing enough cooling to reach their rooms. The zone control system could also have broken or stuck dampers in the ductwork.
Dying air conditioner
If your air conditioning system is older than 12 years, a decline in even cooling often means the entire AC is losing its cooling capacity to old age. Most air conditioners can last 10 to 15 years, so 12 years is often the point where many systems start to enter a final decline. We recommend having our experts examine your aging AC to find out if repairs are worthwhile or if it’s more cost-effective to arrange for a replacement.
Undersized air conditioner
If this is a new air conditioning system and it’s not fully cooling the house, the problem might be that the AC was improperly sized at installation. An air conditioner must match the cooling requirements of the house, neither oversized nor undersized. An undersized AC simply won’t be able to cool the entire house and it will run for extremely long periods. If you have an undersized AC, the only solution is to replace it. Make sure to work with us, since we’ll ensure the new system is accurately sized.
Gowland’s Heating & A/C Values “Relationship over Revenue!” Call us when you need air conditioning repair in Slidell, LA or think you may need an AC replacement.