“My AC doesn't work” is actually a dozen different problems wearing the same complaint — and each failure leaves its own fingerprint. Find your system's exact behavior below, and you'll know the likely cause and the right next move before you ever pick up the phone.
Match the symptom
| What it's doing | Most likely cause | Your move |
|---|---|---|
| Completely dead — nothing runs | Tripped breaker, thermostat power, blown fuse or float switch | Check breaker + thermostat batteries; reset once, then call |
| Indoor fan runs, air blows warm | Outdoor unit down — failed capacitor, contactor, or its own tripped breaker | Check the condenser's breaker; if it runs but air stays warm, book service |
| Runs constantly, house never cools | Low refrigerant, dirty coils, or a system losing capacity | Swap the filter; if no change in a few hours, service call |
| Ice on the copper lines or unit | Frozen evaporator — airflow starvation or refrigerant leak | Shut it OFF, run FAN ONLY to thaw, replace filter, then call |
| Starts, then quits within minutes | Short cycling — electrical fault, overheating, or oversized system | Professional diagnosis; repeated hard starts kill compressors |
| Water around the indoor unit | Clogged condensate drain or frozen coil melting off | Shut it down to protect floors/ceilings; same-day call |
The one universal rule
Whatever the symptom, don't keep restarting a struggling system over and over — every forced restart during a fault is wear on the most expensive component in the machine. One reset attempt is troubleshooting; five is compressor abuse.
When you're done decoding
Bring us the symptom — it genuinely speeds up the visit. Pacific Air technicians roll from Clifton across Passaic, Bergen, Essex, and Morris counties with the common failure parts on the truck, cooling-loss calls prioritized in summer, and every repair quoted in writing after the diagnosis, never during a sales pitch.
Found your symptom on the chart?
Tell us what it's doing — (973) 210-7060 — and we'll likely arrive with the fix already on the truck.
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