Many of the issues that can happen with a mechanical or electrical system will create noise. Just like a car with a loose muffler or squeaky brakes, your air conditioner can warn you of problems with the sounds that it makes. What kind of sounds should an air conditioner make? What sounds indicate that you need AC repair? What could possibly be wrong? We’ll tell you.
Sounds Your Air Conditioner Should Make
This is very simple: your air conditioner should always make the same noises. Nothing should seem new, sudden, or loud. During the cooling cycle, the compressor will hum. Depending on how you have your fan set, it may only whirr during the cooling cycle, or it may keep going at all times. But you really shouldn’t be hearing anything else. If you do, take it seriously, and have it checked by a technician.
Sounds Your Air Conditioner Shouldn’t Make
Sometimes it seems that there are more ways for something to go wrong than for it to go right. This is certainly the case when it comes to AC noises. All kinds of sounds might occur when something is wrong with your air conditioner! Here are some of the most common ones and what they mean.
- Buzzing: This could be as simple as a slightly loose component vibrating. But just in case it’s an electrical buzzing, which could indicate a serious problem and even a risk of electrical shock or fire, you shouldn’t ignore it.
- Clicking: This could be something ordinary and mechanical, but it could also be electrical, so it’s important to have it repaired.
- Booming: If your air conditioner starts with a boom or a bang, it’s called hard starting. This can generally be remedied with a capacitor, which provides an extra boost of power for that startup, making it both quieter and gentler on that all-important component, the compressor.
- Rattling: A clatter or rattle is probably caused by a loose component. This could be something like a fan blade that is off-kilter and wobbling. Repairs should be straightforward. But if you delay, and keep running the AC like that, the component could come loose, crash into other parts of the system, and cause serious damage.
- Hissing: The refrigerant that runs through the coils of your air conditioner spends its time cycling between being a gas and being a liquid. When it’s a gas, if there’s a breach in the coil somewhere, it will hiss when it leaks out. This makes your AC less and less effective as more refrigerant is lost, and can damage the compressor.
- Bubbling: When refrigerant is lost from the coils, air will make its way in, so sometimes, the noisy indicator of a refrigerant leak is the sound of air bubbling through the remaining refrigerant. Get it repaired right away.
- Grinding: The motor that powers the blower fan has bearings to keep the movement smooth and easy, and during maintenance, those bearings will be lubricated. But eventually—sooner, if you don’t get maintenance every year—those bearings can wear down and make a grinding, groaning noise. Get new bearings before the grinding causes enough damage that you need a whole new motor!
Whatever sounds you’re hearing, take good care of your air conditioner. Get AC repair in Clifton, NJ right away.
Contact MarGo Plumbing Heating Cooling Inc. today with AC concerns or any questions about your HVAC system!