Checking Air Conditioner in Cold Weather

[Decij]

I live in Cincinnati, and although the weather has gotten up to 60 degrees recently, it had not reached 65 degrees, which I understand is the minimum temperature to check an air conditioner. I am buying a house to rehab it (factoring in the possibility that the air conditioner might not work), and I am wondering if there is anyway to find out whether the air conditioner works if the temperature is under 65 degrees, or whether I simply have to wait until the temperature gets high enough. Because this is a foreclosed house, I cannot locate the former owner and ask her how it functioned. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks,

JD

[JustCallMe Norman]

You run the risk of damage if its below 'approx.' 60 f . The manufacturers literature even says dont use below 60 f. HOWEVER, if its exactly 60 f. outside , and youve first heated up the house to about 75 f inside (so theres an adequate load on the cooling system)....then you can run the a/c system for a very short amount of time (minutes) while feeling for cold air coming out of the registers. Then immediatly shut the system down.

If you cannot test the a/c system, it is a common practice to have 'x' amount of dollars held in the sellers escrow until it can be started up and checked out (preferrably by a contractor who can tell you exactly how its working).

[Bubba]

Or you could just call an air conditioning tech out and use the money that you saved by buying a foreclosed home. Nahhh, that would make too much sense. Bubba