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Three Tips To Determine Why Your Split System Is Giving You The Cold Shoulder

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Arctic blasts and Australia are not words you normally expect to have in the same sentence, but rare snow in Queensland means many families like yours are looking to their split systems to keep warm. Turning on the system to find it is only delivering cold air is a problem needing to be fixed fast. Here are three tips for when your split system is giving you the cold shoulder.

Warming Up Time

Did you turn on the split system and get frustrated quickly when only cold air came out? One of the first things you need to do is turn the heat back on and wait. When it comes to distributing hot air, the fan in the unit will not kick in until the unit coil is warm enough to produce heated air. This can take up to 20 minutes to happen.

Set your thermostat to 28 degrees, turn the unit on and wait for up to 30 minutes to see if the fan kicks in. If the fan doesn't kick in, it is time to rug up and go outside to check the outdoor unit.

Outdoor Unit Ice

Head outside and check whether the outdoor unit has ice build-up on the condenser. Your split system is made up of two parts and the condenser is the equipment sitting in the metal box outside your home. If the ice layer looks thin and fresh, this is not a problem as your split system has a defrost mode that works to melt away the ice on an hourly cycle. If there is a thick layer of ice, then your defrost mode is not working and this is the reason for your cold air.

A non-operating defrost mode is an issue you will need an air conditioning repair specialist to have a look at as it involves checking the electronics board controlling the way your system works.

Technician Required

If you still get no heat after allowing it to heat up and checking it for ice, it is time to call an experienced technician to check the system for you. There are a number of internal problems that could be occurring, but only they have the tools to properly test for you.

For example, the refrigerant cooling the air in the system during the summer might be leaking. If it is, the cool air is now mixing with the hot air your system is trying to produce and that significantly lowers the air temperature you are feeling.

Not only is a cold-blowing spilt system giving you the chills, but it is also energy inefficient as you have to find other means to heat your home. It's time to get toasty and track down the cause of your split system woes before the temperatures drop any more.


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