AC Maintenance in Athens, AL
Air conditioners here run from May through September, so April is the time for a tune-up. Tell us about your system, and a licensed contractor who covers Limestone County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Five months of Athens heat, every year
Your air conditioner runs from May through September here, with summer afternoons averaging 89°F. That is five straight months where the compressor and fan run for hours at a stretch, most days, to keep the house at temperature.
A tune-up before that stretch checks the refrigerant charge, the condenser coil, and the electrical connections that carry the load all summer. Limestone County has also logged 171 damaging wind events and 31 hail events over the past ten years, some hailstones as large as 2.5 inches. That kind of weather can bend fins on the outdoor unit or loosen something without you knowing it, until the day it has to run flat out and can't.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 89°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 31 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 171 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Book your AC tune-up in April, before homes here start needing cooling in May.
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
A tune-up checks the refrigerant charge, cleans the coils, tests the capacitor and tightens the electrical connections.
Alabama requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The Alabama Board of Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Contractors tests contractors before they can hold this license, and it keeps a record of who holds one. That license belongs to the contractor, not to any single job, so it stands behind the person or company coming to your house, not just the visit itself.
For a maintenance visit, the state license is what backs the person doing the work. If that visit includes checking refrigerant levels or getting into the sealed side of your air conditioner, the technician also has to hold EPA Section 608 certification, which is a federal requirement in every state, not something Alabama adds on top. Between the two, you have a contractor the state has tested and a technician certified to handle refrigerant without venting it where it shouldn't go.
Source: Alabama Board of Heating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractors
- What does AC maintenance include?
- A technician checks refrigerant pressure, cleans the condenser coil outside, and tests the capacitor and contactor that start the compressor. They also check the condensate drain for clogs, since a blocked drain can back up and cause water damage. Inside, they check the evaporator coil and airflow across it, and confirm the thermostat is calling for cooling correctly. Athens summers put the system to work for five straight months, so a coil caked with dirt or a low refrigerant charge going unnoticed makes the unit run longer and harder than it should.
- How often does an air conditioner need maintenance?
- Once a year is the standard, done before the season it works hardest gets underway. Here that means having it looked at before May, so it is ready for the stretch of 89°F afternoons that runs through September. A yearly check catches a weak capacitor or a dirty coil before it causes a breakdown in the middle of the season.
- Is AC maintenance worth it?
- Yes, because most of the failures that leave a system down during the cooling season trace back to something a technician could have caught earlier, like a failing capacitor or a coil losing its ability to shed heat. Athens also sees real storm activity, with 171 damaging wind events and 31 hail events over the last ten years, so a maintenance visit is also a chance to check that the outdoor unit's fins and housing came through the last storm undamaged. A contractor can price a maintenance plan for your specific system.