Your air conditioner comes on when you want it to, but now it’s overstaying its welcome. It’s just not shutting down, and that’s a problem for more reasons than you might think. Apart from running your power bill up the wall, it doesn’t know that it’s already cold enough in your house.
When you need air conditioning repair in Hood River, especially for something this complicated, we’re here to back you up. But while you wait for us to arrive, there are two ways you can power down that air conditioner so it stops bugging you. Let’s talk about how you can do it.
You Can Power it Down at the Outdoor Switch
Your central air conditioner has a big cabinet outside that likely sits on a concrete pad. Close by, there will be a plastic flip-cap-style box that’s attached to the house. This is where the switch is to power it down.
Flip the cap open, then shut the switch off. You’ll quickly realize that the power gets cut when the spinning fan blades on top of your air conditioner cabinet stop.
Just to double-check, go inside and put your hand under the vent. If you can’t feel any air coming through, that’s a good sign and you’re ready to wait for the HVAC technician to show up.
You Can Flip the Breaker Switch
That outdoor switch is helpful, but if for some reason it doesn’t cut the power to your air conditioner, it means you need to go further. In your home, you have a circuit breaker. It’s a panel with a metal door, and it can be located just about anywhere in your home depending on how the architect was feeling that day.
Once you find it, you’ll flip the door open and see a ton of labels and horizontal switches. These should hopefully be labeled correctly, so you should find “AC” or “Air Conditioner” next to a switch somewhere, and it might look like two small switches that are joined together by a metal bracket.
Flip that, and the power should go down. Again, double-check just to be sure, and that should be everything you need to do.
Don’t Touch Any Wiring
As a cautionary tale, we want to make sure you know that it’s never okay to try and disconnect wiring from your air conditioner. Toying with live electrical wires puts you in an extremely hazardous, potentially life-threatening situation, and it’s never worth it. HVAC technicians are not only trained for these sorts of situations, but they’re also equipped to put safety first.
You’ve Powered it Down, Now What?
Even if you power it down successfully, you still need an HVAC technician to take a look at what’s going on. It’s not a good idea to just turn the circuit breaker back when you want cool air.
They’ll have to find the root of this problem and fix it so you can have normal AC function again. Don’t hesitate; call the moment you run into this issue. We’ll be there to help you along the way.
Contact A&E Plumbing, Heating and Air today to schedule your air conditioning repair as soon as possible.
