The A/C Guy of Tampa Bay Inc. Blog: Posts Tagged ‘Air Conditioner Repair’

The Sounds to Expect From Your Air Conditioner

Monday, July 11th, 2022
relaxed-young-woman

We’ve talked before about the warning sounds from an air conditioner that will tell you when it’s time to call our technicians for AC repair in Tampa, FL. Strange and unusual noises coming from any part of a split system air conditioner are a reason for concern, and the faster you move to have the AC inspected and repaired, the less risk of the air conditioning system suddenly breaking down or developing a more expensive repair issue.

But “strange” and “unusual” are relative—what do they actually mean? We can describe these noises to you, but we can also describe the sounds you should expect to hear from an air conditioning system when it’s running as it should. So to put a positive spin on AC repairs, here are the customary noises you’ll hear from your air conditioner this summer when it’s doing the job you need from it.

Continue Reading

What Odd Smells From Your Central AC May Mean

Monday, May 16th, 2022
AC-grill

One of the common warning signs of a problem with a central air conditioning system is when it starts to create weird sounds. But hearing isn’t the only sense you can use to notice an AC in trouble. Your sense of smell can also alert you. An air conditioner that’s blowing strange scents into your house through the vents is sending up a warning flag that you may need to call our technicians for central air conditioning in Tampa, FL.

If you’re currently noticing a strange AC smell, we can help you try to narrow down what it means. Please don’t try any repairs on your own—leave the diagnosis and solutions to our professionals.

Continue Reading

How You Can Help a Struggling Air Conditioner

Monday, November 1st, 2021
man-with-fan

One of the difficulties we face with air conditioners in Florida is that they don’t get lengthy breaks. The standard for air conditioners in most of the country is a steady summer of use, shorter periods of use in spring and fall, and then a winter where they may not turn on at all. But we need to have our ACs ready to work all through the year, and this means they take on a lot more stress. 

As winter gets nearer, you may run into an air conditioner that’s starting to struggle to keep the house cool on warm days. This might be the result of the strain on the air conditioner, or it could be a malfunction. We’ll look at what you can do when you have an AC that isn’t living up to expectations.

Continue Reading

Can My Air Conditioner Rust?

Monday, September 6th, 2021
old-ac-unit

Any metal that comes into contact with water in the presence of oxygen can rust. So the short answer to the question in the title is, yes. Rust on an AC is more likely to happen in a place like coastal Florida because of our high humidity and the amount of salt in the air. The outdoor components of your home’s air conditioning system are in regular contact with moisture and salt, and this can lead to parts of it rusting.

The good news is that AC manufacturers build their systems to resist rust for many years. It can still occur, however, and we’re going to take a look at what can happen when you’ve got a rusty AC and what you can do about it. 

Continue Reading

A Bad Thermostat vs. Your AC: What Can Go Wrong

Monday, August 23rd, 2021
advanced-thermostat-on-hot-day

When Thermostats Go Bad!

Sounds a touch dramatic, but we want to make a point about how important your home’s thermostat is for the overall operation of your HVAC system. The thermostat affects comfort, energy consumption, and the health of the AC and heater. Thermostat problems often look like other HVAC troubles, and it takes a skilled professional to make an accurate diagnosis of the malfunction and fix it. 

We’ve listed below ways a thermostat can malfunction and how it affects your house and AC (as well as the general HVAC system). 

Continue Reading

Should I Get a Bigger Air Conditioner for My Home?

Monday, August 9th, 2021
air-conditioner-condenser-3D-render

Earlier this year, we wrote a post about the cooling limits of an air conditioning system in a home. This is called the temperature differential of an AC, which is how much the air conditioner can lower the indoor temperature compared to the outside. The temperature differential for residential ACs is 20°F. 

Of course, this doesn’t mean every air conditioner can work the same for every house. A small air conditioner may be able to lower the temperature by 20°F, but for only a limited area. This is the air conditioner’s capacity, which is separate from the temperature differential. The capacity of an air conditioner is how many BTUs of heat it can remove from a house in an hour. For example, a small window AC can remove about 5,000 BTUs/hour from a space, but this is only enough to cool down a single room. Larger central ACs can remove 12,000 to 60,000 BTUs/hour. 

Continue Reading

Drip, Drip, Drip: Why Your AC Makes That Sound

Tuesday, June 1st, 2021
water-droplets

One of the best ways you can discover that it’s time to call us for AC repair in Palm Harbor, FL is by listening for unusual sounds coming from the air conditioner’s cabinets. These warning sounds include rattling, creaking, hissing, bubbling, shrieking, and screeching. 

But what about the sound of water dripping? This is a normal noise you can expect to hear from your AC, but we’ve found that people are a bit confused about why they hear water inside their air conditioners. ACs don’t use water to cool down the air, so where is this water coming from?

We’re going to answer this question, not just because it’s an interesting bit of trivia, but because it will help you understand the condensate drainage system of your AC. This information can come in handy in the future if the cooling system malfunctions.

Continue Reading

“Fan Only” vs. “Air Conditioning”: What’s the Difference?

Monday, April 19th, 2021
desk-fan

In our last post, we explored a topic that’s always popular with homeowners: ways to save money. Specifically, how to lower the cost of cooling a home in the summer. It’s not hard to find ways to reduce how much you use your AC, and our technicians can help out with installations like dehumidifiers and high-efficiency ACs.

We didn’t touch on one way to lower AC costs in the last post, which is “fan only” mode. We’re going to address it here because it’s not exactly a way to save money, but it’s something important to know about.

Continue Reading

Ways to Improve Your AC In Fall

Monday, October 19th, 2020
Air-Conditioner

Florida is definitely an “air conditioning state,” since we use our ACs around the year. We use them less during winter, but it’s never long before we have to switch them back on. So while fall may be a time when people in northern states stop thinking about their air conditioning systems altogether, we still need to give some thought to helping our cooling systems make it to April and their next scheduled regular maintenance. 

In this post, we’ll examine some ways you can make your air conditioning system better in the fall so it’s prepared for any surprises.

Continue Reading

Tel-a-Tech Phone Consultation Service Now Available

Friday, April 3rd, 2020

Are you concerned about social distancing but have a repair or system concern that needs to be addressed today? The A/C Guy of Tampa Bay is now offering a phone consultation service for just $29.

We will charge $29 for the consult, which includes video chat thru Duo or WhatsApp if so desired. You will be able to show the tech what is going on, and the tech can walk you through basic solutions if available. If the solution is not readily available and an onsite visit is still required, we will credit the $29 toward the onsite service call fee.

To schedule a consult, please call 727-202-2559 and “book an appointment” with one of our CSRs at a mutually convenient time for our tech to meet with you. You will be asked to pay for the service by providing a credit/debit card number to the CSR or by authorizing a checking/savings account debit.

At the arranged time, the tech will contact you to initiate the call. If you have chosen a video consult, the CSR will arrange the app download with you ahead of time and get your contact info to connect.

The tech will gather as much information as possible, then provide any diagnosis and solutions that can be identified. If the problem can be identified and solutions that you can execute are successful, then $29 fee is the only cost. If a solution is not able to be determined or added diagnostics are needed and the tech needs to make a site visit to complete the diagnosis or provide a recommended solution beyond your abilities or requires needed parts etc., then $29 fee will be given as a credit against the normal charges for that visit. Therefore, you don’t end up spending anything more than if you had just had us come straight away. You can’t lose by trying this out!

If additional calls are required (say, for example, because the tech provided a solution the customer executed themselves, but the problem still persists) these would be considered additional phone consults, but would be charged at a 20% reduced rate.

The A/C Guy of Tampa Bay Inc. Serving Our Tampa Bay Family With Integrity and Honor.

Continue Reading