Does turning your AC off for extended time effect how long it takes to start cooling again?

Question

I left my college apt for 3 weeks and turned my AC completely off. I just came back and have had the AC back on for 8 hours with no change in temperature!! HELP!

Answer 1

yup.  it uses more electric to get it running again than if you had left it on at a higher temp for those 3 weeks.  expect a bigger bill this time.

Answer 2

The 3 week time frame does not matter. if the a/c has been on for 8 hrs then it should have cooled down the apartment by now. You have a problem somewhere. It is best that you just turn it off and call someone out correct the problem.

Answer 3

It sounds like you have a lack of refrigerant in the A/C. Shutting the system down can cause some of the washers to become a bit dry and over time will leak the cooling chemical out into the air. When you fire the A/C unit up you should be getting cold air within minutes not hours. Call a HVAC guy and he should be able to come out and recharge the A/C system and advise you on how to shut things down with no further problems. The repair is not a costly one at all. Good Luck!

Answer 4

Not enough info.

You didn't tell what type of system it is. In an apartment if it is a window or thru the wall unit that is not surprising at all.

It also depends a lot on how hot and humid it is in your area.

Remember that you not only have to cool the air but everything in the apartment as well. And if it is humid in your area it has to dry out everything in there too. Like the walls, the carpet, the furniture, everything.

Under normal conditions if it has been off for weeks it is using a lot of the cooling to dehumidify before the temperature begins to falls. If you are producing a lot of water that is what is going on. Humidity is also mass that must be cooled. And condensing water releases heat which lowers the efficiency of the a/c until the air drys out.

I have seen graphs showing room humidity and temperature over time while starting to cool a place. Both fall very slowly at first. The more humidity that is removed the faster the humidity falls and the lower the humidity the faster the temp falls. So what happens even with a powerful central air unit is that the temperature falls off very slowly at first, then faster and faster. So the temperature will drop fast once the air is drier. It will seem like all of a sudden the temperature will fall.

You didn't even tell us if it is blowing out cold air. If it is, then it is working. Give it some time.

Good luck.