Why Your AC Can’t Keep Up With The 100 Degree Heat Wave

It’s still officially only Spring, but crazy hot temperatures are here putting stress on you and your a/c system. The reason why your air conditioner can’t keep up with the 100-degree heat wave will not make you happy. It simply is NOT designed to. We have received dozens of calls from homeowners frustrated with their a/c’s limited capacity to keep up with the heat outside.

Your a/c is not designed for 100 degrees. There is likely nothing wrong with your system. While it seems abnormal for your house to be 77 degrees when it’s set for 71, the sustained high temperature outside is also abnormal. Your a/c is sized for what the temperature is most likely to be in the summer with the high 80’s to low 90’s being the norm for our area. Your a/c is designed to cool a maximum of 20 degrees from the outside temperature. Pretty simple math: if it’s 100 outside and your a/c is getting to 80 or below – it is doing its job.

Although there is nothing you can do to control the outside temperature, there are several things to prevent the hot air from coming inside:

• Keep your blinds closed during the day
• Wait until it’s cooler outside to do laundry or run the dishwasher
• Grill outside instead of turning on the stove or oven
• Set your thermostat higher so your a/c unit gets a break
• Change you air filter
• Cut back any shrubs or debris around your outdoor unit
• Spray down condenser with hose
• Don’t close off vents, your system needs to dispense air evenly without too much pressure

Like any mechanical system, your a/c needs to be maintained. The majority of service calls we receive in the Summer can be prevented with maintenance in the Spring. If you’ve been lucky enough to not have an emergency so far, you should seriously consider call us here at LHT Cooling, Heating & Refrigeration to have your system cleaned and checked. It still may not make it cooler in your home, but it will at least keep it from failing from overworking.

So now you know what your air conditioner can’t keep up with the 100-degree heat wave!