There are two different complaints hiding in this one sentence, and they point at different faults. Air is moving but it is not cold, or barely any air is moving at all. Working out which one you have narrows the cause considerably before anyone opens a panel.
Set to COOL, not AUTO heat, and the fan set to AUTO rather than ON. A fan left on ON runs continuously and blows room-temperature air between cooling cycles, which feels exactly like a broken air conditioner and is not one.
Hold it up to a light. If light does not pass through, it is restricting airflow enough to matter, and a badly restricted filter can freeze the indoor coil solid.
Is the fan on top spinning? Is the unit humming without spinning? Is it packed with grass clippings or leaves? A unit that hums but does not turn is a real symptom worth reporting.
Look at the copper lines where they enter the house and at the indoor coil if you can see it. Ice anywhere means shut the system off and run the fan alone to thaw it. Running a frozen system damages the compressor.
A heat pump or air conditioner usually has two, one at the panel and one in a disconnect box outside near the unit. Both need to be on.
Air moves but is not cold. The fan is fine and the refrigeration side is not doing its job. Common causes are a failed capacitor stopping the outdoor fan or compressor, a contactor that is not pulling in, or a refrigerant charge that has leaked down. Refrigerant is not consumed in normal running, so low charge means a leak, and topping it up without finding the leak just sells you the same repair again next summer.
Barely any air moves. The problem is airflow. A blocked filter, a failing blower motor, a frozen coil or a disconnected duct all show this way. If the coil is frozen, the airflow restriction usually caused the freeze rather than the other way round.
It cools, then stops, then starts again quickly. That is short cycling, and it has several causes including an oversized system, a failing control, restricted airflow or a refrigerant problem. It is hard on the compressor and worth diagnosing rather than living with.
Past that point, judgement by feel stops working. Whether a charge is correct is a measurement of pressures and temperatures against the manufacturer's chart for that model, in the conditions on the day. A capacitor that looks fine can be well out of tolerance on a meter. A compressor that runs can still be failing electrically.
Our diagnostic visit is a paid visit and we say so before we come. You get the readings and a written price before any repair starts, and if the honest answer is that the system is near the end, you get told that with the numbers behind it rather than a quote for a new one.
The fan side is working and the refrigeration side is not. The usual causes are a failed run capacitor, a contactor that is not closing, a frozen indoor coil from restricted airflow, or refrigerant that has leaked down. The outdoor unit is the place to look first: if the fan on top is not spinning while the system is calling for cooling, that narrows it quickly.
Refrigerant is not a consumable. A sealed system does not use it up, so a low charge means it is leaking somewhere. Adding more without finding the leak puts the system back in the same place, usually within a season, and releasing refrigerant is regulated. The leak gets found first.
Almost always airflow, or refrigerant charge, or both. A clogged filter, a dirty indoor coil, a closed-off return or a weak blower all starve the coil of the warm air it needs to absorb heat, and the coil drops below freezing. Turn the system off and run the fan alone to thaw it before anyone works on it, otherwise the readings are meaningless.
It depends on what failed, what the rest of the system looks like, and what refrigerant it uses. A capacitor on an otherwise sound ten-year-old unit is an easy yes. A compressor or a leaking coil on the same unit is a different conversation. We show you the condition and the options in writing and let you decide.
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