Touchstone Heating & Air Inc. Blog: Posts Tagged ‘Air Conditioner Replacement’

The End of Maintenance? You May Need a New AC

Monday, March 8th, 2021

ac-units-scrapyardIn our past two posts, we wrote about the importance of having regular AC maintenance each spring. We could post plenty more about this topic, since it’s that important—you can have most of your potential AC problem vanish thanks to keeping up with maintenance. There is one AC problem you can’t avoid this way, however, which is that the time will come when your air conditioner must be replaced. Maintenance will postpone that day, but no cooling system can last forever, no matter how much care it receives.

This year might be the year. You schedule maintenance with our technicians, we examine the AC, and explain that it’s not likely to last much longer unless it has expensive repairs—repairs that won’t be worth it compared to replacing it with a new AC.

Continue Reading

You Want a New AC for Next Year: Now What?

Monday, October 19th, 2020

air-conditionerThis sounds a bit like a Christmas request (we don’t think Santa can cram a new central air conditioning system down your chimney, and we also doubt he has the proper certifications to accurately size it), but it may be a big question you’ve got for the upcoming season. You know that the current AC you have is near the end of its service life, and trying to push it through another summer in Florida may end in disaster. 

If you’re concerned about the performance of your central air conditioning system, we suggest you take steps soon for AC installation in Gainesville, FL. Our winters may have cooler weather than our summers, but the hot days never go away for too long. You may need the air conditioner up and running soon—so it’s better to have the air conditioner be a new one.

Continue Reading

Why the Upper Floor of Your House Gets Too Hot

Monday, July 27th, 2020

thermometer-going-redOne of the common problems with air conditioning in Lake Butler, FL that we often help to fix is uneven cooling. Providing even cooling throughout even a medium-sized home is difficult, and it takes technicians with experience to ensure whatever AC system is installed for the house can deliver appropriate cooling to all the rooms. Some basic malfunctions in an air conditioner can lead to an imbalance in the house, with some locations receiving comfortable temperatures, and others growing too hot.

And the uneven cooling problem we encounter the most often is when the upstairs of a two-story house is hotter than it should be. The second story already faces challenges for cooling (heat rising, radiant heat coming through the roof), so if the AC starts to have problems, the upper floor will suffer first.

Continue Reading

What Can Cause AC Fans to Stop Working?

Monday, June 1st, 2020

desk-fanYour air conditioning system has two fans that are essential for it to work. The fan you’re most used to hearing and feeling is the indoor blower fan. This fan is located at the bottom of the HVAC cabinet, where it pulls air from the return air ducts and then pushes it past the evaporator coil, where it’s cooled, and then into the ventilation system.

The second fan is in the condenser cabinet outside. This fan draws air through the grill of the cabinet to run it across the condenser coil and release heat. The fan then pushes this heat through the top of the cabinet.

If either fan stops working, you won’t have a cool home. A broken indoor fan means air won’t move through the ducts. A broken outdoor fan means the AC can’t effectively release the heat it drew from indoors and won’t cool down the home’s air.

What causes these fans to break, and what can you do about it?

Continue Reading

Summer Winds Down: Time to Think About Your AC’s Future

Monday, September 24th, 2018

woman-surprised-glassesSummer never truly ends in Florida. We move through rainier, cooler periods, but the work of an air conditioning system in a Florida home is never fully done for the year.

But the official calendar end of the summer is a good time to take stock of a residential air conditioning system and pretend that it’s come to the end of its annual service. We encourage you to take a moment to think about your AC’s performance and age so you can make important choices about its future—such as if you need a new air conditioning system installation in Lake City, FL before the next long stretch of heat arrives.

Continue Reading

Consider Replacing Your Air Conditioner if it Fits This Description

Monday, May 8th, 2017

air-conditioner-replacementSummer is just around the corner for most other parts of the country. For us, though, seasons are a more nebulous concept. You’ve probably already been using your air conditioner for weeks, and you’ll be relying on it pretty heavily over the next couple of months. Air conditioners suffer a lot of stress in places like Florida, especially during the summer. No amount of care and maintenance can keep them operating forever, either. That’s why you need to know when it’s time to replace your air conditioner with a new one. If your AC sounds like it fits the points below, you should consult with a professional about getting rid of it.

Continue Reading

Why You Should Replace Your Air Conditioner if it Uses r22/Freon

Monday, March 27th, 2017

You may not think about the refrigerant in your air conditioner very often (or at all.) However, it’s still a very important part of keeping your system running properly. In fact, without refrigerant, your air conditioner wouldn’t be able to absorb heat and vent it out of your home.

Refrigerant is not actually a name for a specific fluid, though. Instead, it’s a blanket term for a number of different materials that are used for the same general purpose. For many decades, the most common type of refrigerant in use was Freon. In fact, this is still the name most people come up with when you ask them what refrigerant is. However, Freon has a number of problems associated with it that have led to it being phased out of use in air conditioners over the years. Now, Freon is all-but-gone from the field, which is part of the reason that you should replace your air conditioner if it uses the fluid. Learn more about why you should install a new system if your old one uses Freon, by reading below.

Continue Reading