Working as a Heating Professional Can Lead to Success

2 Potential Problems Caused by a Malfunctioning External Fan on Your Central AC Unit

1 May 2019

Abbie Wade

If you have noticed that your central air conditioner seems to constantly trip the breaker and blows warm air when it does work, you may decide to step outside and inspect the unit. While the AC is running, you may have noticed that the large external fan is not rotating. If so, there are a couple of potential problems a malfunctioning fan on the exterior of your central AC unit can cause.  

1. Unit May Constantly Overheat

The job of the fan on the outside of your air conditioner is to pull heat away from the interior of the unit and push it outside. This heat comes from a combination of the heat generated by the compressor and motor, as well as heat surrounding the unit.

If the fan is no longer pulling the heat out from the inside, the interior of your unit will start to overheat. When this happens, the safety mechanism inside will detect the extreme rise in temperature and switch off the unit before it overloads.

However, if this continues to happen on a consistent basis, the safety switch itself may malfunction, which may cause a buildup of excess power and flip the breaker. If your circuit breaker is flipping, you need to have the unit looked at by a professional as soon as possible.

2. Compressor May Suffer Irreparable Damage

Along with switching off due to overheating, a malfunctioning external fan can also cause irreparable damage to the air conditioner's compressor. The compressor is a key component for cooling the air within the unit so that it can be circulated throughout your home.

However, if the compressor is exposed to constant heat, it will have to work much harder to cool the air. Since it may not recognize the air it is trying to cool is coming from within the unit instead of your home, it will continue to run.

Because the heat is never pulled away from the compressor, the extreme stress from constant running plus having the unit's safety mechanism switch off regularly can cause permanent damage. If the fan is not repaired, this damage will make it necessary to replace the compressor.

If the external fan is not coming on every time your AC unit is running, you need to have it repaired before the malfunctioning part seriously damages the air conditioner's internal components. Contact a service that provides residential air conditioning services to have them inspect the unit to find the issue so they can either repair or replace the external fan.

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