My air conditioners been out since this past weekend and despite a call to my apartment’s maintenance dept., they’ve yet to show up and I’m really not wanting to go another night of sleeping in 80 degree temperatures. It first seemed that the AC unit crapped out this past weekend when some bad storms knocked out the power, but even after flipping off and back on the circuit the AC is on at the circuit breaker, no dice.
The fans are blowing but the air exiting the vents isn’t cold. I have a feeling part of it’s due to the undoubtedly filthy air filter (I don’t think it’s been changed in a year or so). The problem is, I can’t even find where to put a new one in… Help?
I’ve been trying to pry on the two panels on front but neither seems like they want to budge, and when looking past the grill pattern on the upper panel, it seems there’s a bunch of important stuff behind it (and no filter).
It looks like you can slide the top panel up (there are vertical scuff marks along the top edge indicative of this) and then you should be able to pull out the bottom to disengage it and remove it. Then, the bottom panel should be able to slide up and be removed, if necessary. If I had to guess, I’d say the filter is probably behind the top panel at the top, directly under the duct.
The filter doesn’t explain the loss of cooling, but it is vitally important to keep it clean. On that unit, the top panel lifts straight up and then swings out from the bottom. Then the lower panel can also lift off. It may have a screw or two in the top of the panel. Your filter should be behind the lower panel and can be a permanent washable filter, a cardboard frame flat filter or a roll filter that fits over a u-shaped frame enclosing the fan. Be safe and turn off the power first.
As far as the no cooling thing, it could be almost anything, especially after a storm related power outage. The one thing to be sure of is that you are properly resetting the AC breaker. If it has tripped, it is necessary to push it hard in the off direction before flipping it back on. If the handle is kind of in the middle position and sort of floppy, it needs to be reset. The other one thing to be sure of is that you are resetting the breaker for the outside condenser unit, not just the inside blower/furnace unit. The main AC breaker will be a 2-pole breaker, which is twice as thick as the furnace breaker, which is a single pole.
On preview - beat by Q.E.D.. But the filter is behind the bottom panel, at the bottom.
