1 Tip To Keep Your Air Conditioner Running During This Southwest Florida Heatwave
Like much of the country, Southwest Florida is in the midst of a heatwave. It was 97 degrees in Fort Myers today. Your air conditioner is doing everything it can to keep up. But if it fails, you know it’s going to fail at 3 am. I’ve learned, AC problems never happen during business hours. So I’m going to give you one simple tip that I use to help keep mine running at my Estero home. I really thought it was basic knowledge, but since I’ve now shown this trick to 2 of my neighbors, I realize that I should tell everyone.
The most common reason an air conditioner suddenly stops working here in Southwest Florida is a clogged drain plug. This extreme heat along with wet conditions causes mold and mildew to form. It sucks when it happens because the clog backs up the water and shuts your unit down. The biggest symptom of this being the problem is that your digital thermostat’s screen has gone blank.
So before you call someone for a service call for your air conditioner, here’s what to try.
Find where the white plastic tube runs out of the house. It’s usually next to your outdoor unit. In some places it may be copper. This is the drain for the air conditioner. Water is supposed to flow from the main unit out of this drain and now something is likely blocking it. Get a Shop Vac and suck out the bad stuff. The smaller the vac the better because the smaller hose fits over the drain better. Here’s the exact one I have. I let my neighbors borrow it to clean out their ac units, too. I cup my hand around the hose to get good suction, my neighbor Sean uses a piece of duct tape to get a seal.
Once this is clean, also check your drip pan under the unit to make sure it’s not full of water, too. Clean it up if needed. Go inside and see if your thermostat screen is back. If yes, then you just fixed the problem. But let’s do one more thing first.
Maintenance – keep this from happening again.
I pour bleach down my drain line. My neighbor Sean uses vinegar. I’m not really sure which is best. The key is, you’re not pouring it into the unit, this is intended to run down the tube, cleaning out the line. Here’s some random guy I found on Youtube explaining this.
Got it?
Do some more research if you like, I’m not an expert on air conditioner repair. But one thing I do know, if you need to make a service call right now, they may not have an opening on the schedule. And this little trick could be the one that saves you.
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