Aside from blowing cool air to make your home feel comfortable on hot days, your residential air conditioning system also helps to regulate the humidity level inside the home. This is crucial for ensuring the thermal comfort of building occupants, as well as improving the overall quality of life at home.

While air conditioning systems are designed and built to not break down easily from normal use, they're not immune to problems. Over time, problems that prevent them from working properly may arise, resulting in the need for prompt repairs. As such, here's a rundown on some of the most common problems that HVAC contractors often find when diagnosing faulty AC systems.

Faulty thermostat

Sometimes, AC malfunction isn't due to faults with the main cooling equipment itself but the thermostat that you use to control your home's temperature. If your home's AC thermostat is broken, it may not read the right temperature, resulting in reduced thermal comfort and swelling utility bills.

AC thermostats can display the wrong temperature reading due to a variety of reasons. Some reasons include:

• The thermostat is too old.
• You have a bad temperature sensor.
• The thermostat isn't level.
• The thermostat is placed poorly.

Regardless of the reason your thermostat is acting up, you should let the professionals diagnose and fix the issue.

Clogged air filter

You may not notice it with the naked eye, but dust, pollen, pet dander and several other types of airborne dirt freely roam the air inside your home, resulting in lower indoor air quality. Your AC system has an air filter that is specifically designed to catch these particles and prevent them from entering the system and being recirculated back into the home.

Over time, however, these filters become clogged with dirt. A clogged filter will obstruct airflow, reducing the ability of your air conditioning unit to effectively and efficiently cool the air. This will lead to increased cooling costs. The good news is that clogged air filters require an easy fix. All you have to do to get your cooling system working properly again is to remove and replace the dirty filter. If you have a reusable filter, you only need to remove, clean and re-use it

Obstructions near the outdoor unit

The proper placement of your AC system's condenser or compressor unit is essential to keep the entire cooling system running at its best. If the unit is placed in close proximity to structural obstructions such as walls and fences, and/or landscaping obstructions such as grass, shrubs and potted plants, it won't get the sufficient amount of airflow needed to deliver the desired cooling performance. For this reason, make sure there's enough space between your AC's outdoor unit and any structures or plants.

For more information about air conditioning systems, contact an HVAC contractor.