You sprung for a new central air conditioner unit to enjoy the reliable and efficient cooling during the summer months. But problems with the unit or installation can make those first few days less than comfortable in your home. While there are a variety of factors that can cause an older unit to become less effective, the newness of your unit narrows down the potential causes, which this article will discuss.

These fixes will all require a visit from an air conditioning repair technician. If the first company you used caused the problem, you might want to look for a more reputable company to perform the fix.

Wrong Size Unit

Central air conditioners come in different sizes, with the size referring to the cooling capacity. The cooling capacity will likely be listed in tons, but that doesn't mean weight. A one-ton unit can cool 12,000 British Thermal Units, or BTUs, per hour. There are calculations you can make to see how many BTUs your home needs for its square footage, but there's a much easier way to check the size of your unit.

Look at the box or manufacturer's guide and see how many square feet the manufacturer says the unit is meant to cool. You want to make sure that square footage number is lower than your actual number of square feet, or you will have an efficiency issue that can only be fixed with the installation of a new unit.

Incorrect Refrigerant

Refrigerant starts as a gas in your condensing unit, changes into a liquid in the condenser coils, moves inside the house, and changes back to a gas in the air handler evaporator coils. That final change back to gas chemically cools off the evaporator coils, which is how the warm air blowing through the system is made colder.

If you're experiencing immediate cooling issues with your new unit, the technician might have made a refrigerant mistake. This could involve using the wrong refrigerant for your specific unit, which can cause permanent damage to your unit over time. The tech also could have used the correct refrigerant but used too little or overcharged the refrigerant. Improper levels can mess up the chemical reaction in the evaporator coils and prevent the coils from getting cold enough for efficient cooling.

The only real way you can tell the problem is refrigerant is by having a more qualified tech come out to check the system.

Duct Issue

If you had new duct work installed with your unit, a mistake in the ducts could be causing the efficiency problem. Ducts that are incorrectly sized for the power of your unit won't have the ability to move a sufficient amount of air through your home.

The tech also could've installed the right ducts but not sealed the joints properly. This can lead to duct leaks that allow a significant amount of cold air to leak out into your walls. Again, calling in a better tech is the only way you can really pinpoint duct issues.

For more information, contact an experienced HVAC company like Quality HomEnergy.