You might like tricks and treats this season, but not when it comes to your air conditioner. You want your air conditioner to work consistently without any spooks. But when your air conditioner begins to make unusual sounds, it can be a red flag that something major is wrong.
Instead of ignoring spooky sounds that come from your air conditioner, schedule AC repair services in St. Augustine. It’s better to stay ahead of problems and get them fixed sooner rather than later. You can keep reading to learn more about five unusual sounds that may come from your air conditioner and what they mean.
Rattling
There are some instances where a rattling is not a big deal. If you hear a rattling occasionally coming from your ductwork, that’s not a problem. In fact, it’s completely normal. Your ductwork may rattle gently once in a while during temperature changes. This is because the fragile material of your ductwork is expanding or contracting.
But if you hear persistent rattling that seems to happen all the time, it’s a sign that your ductwork is loose and needs to be secured. Hearing rattling from inside your air conditioner is also a red flag that you may have a component that is loose and moving around inside your air conditioner.
Clicking
This is another sound that can be completely normal sometimes, and very concerning other times. You should hear clicking when your air conditioner first turns on or off during a cooling cycle. Clicking indicates that your compressor is either turning on or off. However, excessive clicking can indicate that your compressor is struggling to turn on for a cooling cycle.
If you hear clicking more than a couple of times, something is wrong with your compressor. Your AC may end up short cycling (turning on and off every few minutes) or turning on and staying on. Both problems add a lot of strain to the system. It’s better to schedule an appointment to get the problem checked out rather than wait for your compressor to stop working altogether.
Grinding
This sound is often also referred to as a metal-on-metal shrieking sound. It can be a little difficult to describe, but unmistakable when you hear it coming from your air conditioner. Grinding or shrieking happens because lubrication dries up in between components like gears that have to work together during the cooling process.
The solution is cleaning out in between the gears and relubricating them so that they can once again work together smoothly–without any startling sounds. If you hear a grinding or shrieking sound coming from your AC, don’t ignore it. If the problem worsens, then the parts may need to be replaced completely due to damage.
Banging
While some unusual sounds can be easy to ignore since they are fairly quiet, banging is not one of them. If you have a banging noise inside of your air conditioner, it can sound very alarming. In fact, we encourage you to turn your air conditioner off completely when you hear banging sounds until our team can visit your home for service. Banging can mean that a large component inside of your AC is loose.
We most commonly hear banging sounds when a pistol pin or connector rod is loose inside of the compressor. Since the compressor plays a major role in AC cooling cycles, allowing the banging noise to continue will only lead to more damage. Instead of tightening the component or replacing a single part, you may end up having to replace your entire compressor.
Hissing
Hissing is one of the more quiet sounds, although it can lead to very big problems. Hissing usually indicates that your air conditioner has a refrigerant leak. Without enough refrigerant charge in the lines, your air conditioner will not be able to cool your home to your expectations. Additionally, refrigerant is a dangerous chemical that poses risks to your family if someone breathes in the fumes. If you hear a hissing sound, schedule an appointment with our team.
We can repair the line that has a hole to prevent leaks from happening again in the future. Then we can measure the refrigerant charge to see how much was lost during the leak. Our next step is to recharge your refrigerant so that your air conditioner has enough available for cooling.
The Climate Masters team has been serving St. Johns County since 1988 with quality, hometown service. Schedule an appointment today for AC service.
