INDIANAPOLIS GUIDE

Cooling is down and the house is getting hot

The thermostat is calling and the house is not answering. Upstairs is worse. This is the short page for that afternoon, not the long diagnostic. Indianapolis summers are humid, and National Weather Service normals for the city put a typical July afternoon near 85°F with a night that only falls to about 66°F, so the house does not get a free reset after dark. If the system runs but never quite cools, the not-cooling guide is the deeper list. Stay here when cooling has stopped and people are getting hot.

By Mike Maziarz · Sources checked October 12, 2026 · How we write these guides

People first, then the equipment

Notice who is in the house before you notice the outdoor unit. The National Weather Service heat-illness page says young children, older adults, people with chronic conditions, and pregnant people are more vulnerable when the body cannot shed heat, and that heat stroke is a medical emergency. Confusion, slurred speech, fainting, or loss of consciousness in a hot house means call emergency services. Move the person to a cooler place while you wait. A thermostat is not the treatment.

That page also says it is never safe to leave a child, a disabled person, or a pet in a car. A closed car is not a place to wait for a technician. Get vulnerable people to a reliably cool building if the house is climbing. The Weather Service notes a fan can make heat stress worse when the heat index is high, so a fan is not a substitute for getting out of a dangerous room.

Write the indoor temperature now. A number that is climbing is a different afternoon from a house that is warm but stable. If the only problem is a room that feels clammy while the system still runs, use the humidity guide after people are safe. Clammy and a dead air conditioner are not the same hour.

One pass at the thermostat and the outdoor unit

Set the mode to cool, set the temperature a few degrees under the room reading, and set the fan to auto. If the screen says wait, let that timer finish once. Cycling the mode every minute restarts the delay and makes a working compressor look dead. If the thermostat is blank, the thermostat guide covers batteries and the one look at the equipment switch. Do not pull wires. On a cooling call the outdoor fan should turn, not merely click. Lift leaves or a cover you can reach, and stay out of the electrical compartment.

If the breaker for the air conditioner is tripped, leave it off after one look. Resetting it in a loop is how a failing compressor or a short gets hotter. Say whether the rest of the house has power. Many Indianapolis electric bills are from AES Indiana. A dark block is a utility outage. A single breaker is an equipment problem. Do not wander the panel flipping breakers you cannot name.

Ice, a full pan, and a float switch

Ice on the large copper line, or a coil cased in frost, means the system has been running without enough heat transfer. Turn cooling off. Let it thaw. Do not chip the ice. A packed filter or blocked return can freeze a coil, and so can a low refrigerant charge. You cannot tell those apart from the yard. The not-cooling guide walks through that thaw. If ice returns on the next cycle, leave cooling off.

The indoor coil also pulls water from humid air. In a basement the air handler often sits on the furnace, with a trap and a pump to a floor drain or laundry sink. A Building America guide, citing the residential code, describes a water-level switch that shuts the equipment off before a pan overflows. If cooling died and the pan is full, that switch may have done its job. Do not bypass it.

Shut cooling off at the thermostat if water is spreading. Do not stand in the water and open the cabinet. The leaking water guide is the puddle. A float switch is not the failure. The clog or the dead pump underneath it is.

What not to do to get through the afternoon

Do not add refrigerant. Cans at a parts counter are not a homeowner fix, and hooking one to a service port is restricted work. EPA Section 608 is the federal rule on who may handle refrigerant. A system that is low has a leak or another fault that a top-off does not repair. The refrigerant guide is the plain-language version. Never jump a low-pressure switch to force the outdoor unit on. That switch is why a compressor is not running dry.

Do not hose the outdoor unit from above while it is running, and do not open the fan grille. Spinning blades and a live capacitor are not an inspection. If someone on a video jumps a wire and the comments say it worked, that is not a procedure for this house. The do-it-yourself boundary is short on purpose: filter if it slides out, thermostat settings, debris you can lift, notes. Then stop.

Keep the house closed if the outdoor air is hotter and wetter than the indoor air. Exhaust fans for cooking and showers help. They do not restart a compressor.

What the same-day call needs to hear

Tell them the indoor temperature, who is in the house, and whether the outdoor fan turns, clicks, or sits still. Say whether the breaker will stay on. Say whether you saw ice or water, and whether a new filter changed anything. Say basement air handler, hall closet, or attic. A photo of the outdoor data plate, panel closed, saves a guessing game about the equipment.

Ask whether the visit is diagnosis, a repair, or both, and what after-hours means if you are still in the hot part of the day. You do not need a lecture on the age of the system while the upstairs is climbing. You need someone who will name what failed. The visit guide is how that conversation usually goes. The cost factors page lists what changes a quote, access and timing included, without dollar figures.

When cooling returns, watch a supply vent for an hour. If ice comes back, leave the system off and report how long it ran.

If the repair becomes a replacement

A dead air conditioner on a hot day is a bad moment to sign for a new system because the house is miserable. Ask for the finding in writing: the part that failed, and whether the rest of the equipment was tested. The repair or replace page is that comparison, without a countdown based on age. You can cool people somewhere else and make the equipment decision when you can read the paper.

If the electric bill is from AES Indiana and a quote replaces the equipment, read the home-improvement rebate page before anyone subtracts a credit in their head. Residential heating and cooling rebates there require a Quality Contractor Network member. Central air conditioners are listed at $300, $350, or $400 by efficiency tier. Air-source heat pumps are listed at $275, $375, or $575. Mini-splits step from $100 to $725 at the highest tier. The contractor submits the paperwork or may discount the invoice. The efficiency minimums are on that table.

This site is not the Quality Contractor Network and does not choose who answers a call. A rebate is not a promise that replacement is the right repair, and it is not a price for labor. Confirm the table on the day you sign. Separate from those electric rebates, a gas-furnace conversion credit from Citizens Energy Group is a heating question, described on the cold-air guide, and it does not pay for an air conditioner.