American Fork homeowners will, at some point, encounter challenges with their AC units. When your AC unit works but doesn’t push out cold air, it might need a reset to regenerate the basic power it needs. In other cases, restarting your AC during a power outage is necessary when the circuit protections built into your breakers need a manual reboot.
Circuit breakers use surge protections to stop appliances from receiving unconstrained amounts of power. After a power outage, appliances that require substantial amounts of energy must be manually restarted as a safety precaution. Outside of a power outage, restarting your AC unit or waiting for its power to circulate out can remedy many problems that building owners face.
The Science Behind Resetting and Why It Works
The common malfunctions of electronics are often remedied by powering them off and turning them back on. Likewise, the starting phase of your AC unit, being a preparatory phase, is what makes resets work. Rebooting an AC is as simple as turning it off and on. Depending on the type of system or unit you have, you must manually or automatically reboot your AC. An AC technician is the ideal person to safely restart your AC, but if you have a simple system and would like to try resetting it on your own, here are the steps that you can take.
Powering Off Your Air Conditioner in a Safe Manner
A reset button is the safest way to get your AC appliances powered up. You can find a reset button directly on the AC module. This small red button is the only one of its kind there and will automatically trigger a reboot within your AC unit. Those who don’t have a reset button need to reboot their air conditioners manually. The outdoor compressor of your AC system has a switch that you can directly turn on or off.
Before you begin work on your air conditioning unit, collect your equipment and safety gear. Anyone working on an electrical appliance should wear gloves and eye protection.
Be sure that the AC unit and anything connected to it or near it is powered off before you start working. Check all of the nearby power outlets to see if they’re live. You can do this with a voltmeter. Don’t work on your AC if its power supply is active during your manual reboot. By finding your circuit breaker, you can cut off the power to your entire building or solely where your AC unit is.
It may be a good idea to reset your AC unit during normal business hours so that you can contact an AC technician if anything goes wrong or if resetting your unit does not fix the issues it’s having. Avoid rebooting without a plan for it, and try not to improvise with your time.
The Wait
Waiting while your unit is unplugged is how you ensure that all of its prior electricity has been cycled out of it. This is important because the preparatory phase of your AC can only start again after the unit shuts down. Since an AC unit doesn’t think for itself, resetting yours gets it to do a self-check, getting its components ready to work as intended again. Allowing the power to cycle out can take anywhere from one to 30 minutes, but it’s crucial that you not rush this step so that the unit fully resets.
For Emergency Use Only
Turning your appliances off and then back on provides results, but don’t rely on this method solely. Using your restart button too often defeats its purpose. Resetting an AC unit should be done rarely. Living with a constant need to reboot your AC unit means that it needs some work. Dirty filters, which slow/stop airflow, can force the electronics within your AC to stall as they lack the power to circulate air. The quality of your unit’s power supply can also be the culprit, so you may want to look into that.
The Ideal Solutions for Your Air Conditioner
The location of Gunther’s in American Fork, Utah, is convenient for building owners and homeowners alike to prepare their building appliances for any number of weather conditions and is available to handle your plumbing, heating, and cooling for this reason. If your AC has been working with a lag, then schedule a consultation to discuss the solutions now. More importantly, we ask you to please be careful, and think of us before rebooting an AC on your own. Call now to get the advice or technician you need.
