If your air conditioner isn't adequately cooling your home, you don't have to call a repair person right away. Instead, there are several troubleshooting measures you can take first. Before calling for emergency air conditioning repairs, work your way through these steps:

1. Check the thermostat.

Before panicking about the responsiveness of your air conditioner, check the thermostat. If you have one thermostat controlling your entire HVAC system, it runs based on the temperature of the room where it is.

For example, if your thermostat is located in a relatively cool room, it will sense low temperatures, and it may not turn on. If the rest of your home is hot, it may seem like the AC isn't working. Check your thermostat, and if it's in an abnormally cool spot, turn it up a few degrees, and see how your AC responds. If your thermostat seems to be working correctly but your AC isn't responding, you may need a professional repair person.

2. Outrule the furnace.

If you are sure that your AC is getting the correct message from your thermostat, you need to ensure that the problem is not coming from your furnace. In many HVAC systems, the fan attached to the furnace is responsible for blowing the air through the entire home, and if this fan isn't working, the cool air won't circulate around your home.

To ensure the furnace's fan isn't causing the problem, you need to check that your furnace is working correctly. Turn your thermostat to heat mode, and turn the temperature on the thermostat up as far as possible.

Listen to see if the furnace turns on. If you hear the fan running, you can outrule the furnace as the culprit of your problem, but if the fan doesn't start, you need to call someone to look at your furnace as well as your air conditioner.

3. Check your registers.

Once you have outruled the thermostat and the furnace fan as possible culprits, it's time to check your registers. Make sure that they are not clogged with debris, dust or pet hair. Remove them, open them and vacuum them as needed.

Also, look into the vents just below the registers. If your vents or registers are blocked, cool air won't travel through your house. Remove any visible obstructions, and use a vacuum to remove small bits of dust and debris.

4. Change the filter.

Both your heater and air conditioner have a filter, and in some cases, your system may just have one HVAC filter. Locate your filter and make sure that it is clean. Remove it and vacuum or wash it according to the manufacturer's instructions. If possible, replace the filter with a new one.

5. De-ice your condenser coils.

If you have cleared the filters and registers and checked your thermostat and furnace fan, you should de-ice and clean your condenser coils next.

To clean your condenser coils, you need to remove the evaporator coil access panel from your air conditioner -- in most cases, it is attached with sheet metal screws to  the rest of your air conditioner.

Then, you need to spray the coils with a can of air conditioner evaporator coil cleaner. Much like oven cleaner, these chemicals work to remove built up dust, rust and debris from your coils.

This step is especially important if you had a dirty filter -- remember that any debris not caught by the filter will go directly to the coils. Follow the manufacturer's instructions regarding how long to leave the cleaner on the coils. Then, turn your AC on. If it is working correctly, the condensate will rinse off the coils, and they will become clean and no longer prevent the flow of cool air through your home.

If none of these steps solve the issue, contact an AC repair person.