Why does a dirty air filter stop your AC from cooling?
The filter clogs with dust and chokes the airflow across the indoor coil.
Read the fix →Why is my AC low on refrigerant?
A leak somewhere in the sealed loop. Refrigerant is never 'used up' — if you're low, it escaped.
Read the fix →What happens when your outdoor AC coil gets dirty?
The outdoor coil gets caked with dirt, grass clippings, cottonwood, and leaves.
Read the fix →Why does a dirty indoor coil kill your cooling?
Dust slips past a cheap or missing filter over months and coats the indoor coil.
Read the fix →Why is my AC's evaporator coil frozen?
Almost always a symptom of something else: low airflow (dirty filter or weak blower) or low refrigerant.
Read the fix →How do you know if your AC compressor is failing?
Age, an electrical fault, chronic overheating, or liquid refrigerant slugging back and damaging it.
Read the fix →What are the symptoms of a bad AC capacitor?
Capacitors store and release the electrical jolt that starts and runs the compressor and the fan motors. Heat and age make them weaken, bulge, and fail — it's one of the single most common AC breakdowns, especially in a heat wave.
Read the fix →What happens when the expansion valve sticks?
Debris, moisture freezing inside it, or a failed sensing bulb on the expansion valve.
Read the fix →Can you put too much refrigerant in an AC?
Someone added more refrigerant than the system is rated for — more isn't better.
Read the fix →Start here if you're not sure
Two symptoms cover most calls. Ice on the coil is almost always airflow or refrigerant — start with the frozen coil guide. An outdoor unit that hums but won't spin is very often a failed capacitor, a cheap part that mimics far more expensive failures.
Not sure what the parts even do? The interactive cycle diagram walks through all four stages in about two minutes.