When all your sensors work together, the result is a home that’s always at the desired temperature. The pressurized liquid, mechanical parts, and electrical relays are all doing what they’re supposed to do.
If everything is working as it should, you have little to worry about in terms of ac repair. But when a sensor goes wrong, it can affect almost everything else. A bad sensor can cause your unit to cycle too much or fail to turn on at all. You’ll experience rapid changes to your indoor climate, making it very uncomfortable.
The good news is that a faulty sensor is easy to fix.
How They Work
A thermostat sensor is close to the evaporator coil inside the air conditioning unit. As air passes over the sensor, the sensor takes note of the current temperature of the air and compares that to the desired temperature.
If it’s not cool enough, the sensor will activate the compressor, turning the machine on, and pushing air through the coils to cool it down. Once the air that passes over the sensor is the same temperature as the desired temperature, the unit shuts off.
This process repeats as long as the sensor in your air conditioner is functioning as it should.
Symptoms of a Faulty Sensor
If your sensor is faulty, there are a few symptoms you can check. For instance, an easy way to tell if you have a faulty sensor is if you adjust the temperature setting on your thermostat and your home is still too cold or too hot.
However, you may not notice that your home is uncomfortable, but rather that your unit doesn’t seem to be working right. If it cycles on and off with a short amount of time between each activation period, that could mean your sensor is faulty.
Allowing your unit to continue with this rapid cycle could cause other critical components to be stressed beyond their capability. Other parts may break, costing you more in repairs than a simple sensor repair or replacement.
Fixing Air Conditioner Sensors on Your Own
The good news is that even if you find a faulty sensor affecting your property, you can fix it yourself in a lot of cases. Before beginning any repair work, always turn off your air conditioning unit and shut off the power at the main electrical panel.
Now you can access the evaporator coil on the inside of your indoor unit. It’s hidden by a cover to protect it, so open the cover for easy access. The sensor will be very close to the coil. However, if the sensor is bent away from the coil or touching the coil, you have a problem.
Bend the sensor back into place with care. It should be close to the coil to get an accurate temperature reading. If it’s bent away from the coil, it can cause the strange behavior we discussed before.
Now turn your breaker back on at the main panel and switch on your air conditioning. Hopefully, that fixed your problem, and you’ll be back up and running in no time without spending money on costly repairs.
If you’re not sure what to do, the safest thing to do is call a professional like USA Air Conditioning Services at (866) 983-0488. Faulty sensors are easy to fix!
