AC is running but blowing warm air
Five safe checks for an air conditioner blowing warm air: thermostat, batteries, filter, breakers and frozen coils. Plus when to call a technician.
About 5 minutes · no tools needed
Safety first. Do not open the outdoor unit or touch wiring. If someone at home is very young, elderly or unwell and it is very hot, tell maintenance it is urgent.
- 1
Check the thermostat
Set it to COOL, a few degrees below the room temperature, with the fan on AUTO (not ON).
- 2
Replace the thermostat batteries
A blank or dim screen often means dead batteries.
- 3
Look at the air filter
A dark gray, clogged filter can make the AC blow weak, warm air. Replace it if you have the right size.
- 4
Check the breakers
Make sure the AC breaker in the panel and the switch box next to the outdoor unit are both ON.
- 5
Ice on the pipes?
If you see ice on the indoor unit or the copper pipes, turn the AC OFF and the fan ON for two hours to thaw it, then try again.
Stop and contact maintenance if
- · The outdoor unit hums but its fan doesn't spin
- · Breakers trip again
- · It still blows warm after these checks
- · Water is leaking from the indoor unit
What to tell them: Tell them what the thermostat shows, what you checked, whether the outdoor fan spins, and send a photo of the model sticker on the outdoor unit.
For property managers
FixRoute walks your residents through this by text, at 2am, and only sends a vendor when it's really needed.
Every fix like this one is a truck roll you don't pay for. See it handle a real request in the live demo.