AC Maintenance in Daphne, AL
Air conditioners here run from May through October, so April is the time for a tune-up. Tell us about your system, and a licensed contractor who covers Baldwin County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Six months of real heat wears on a system
Your air conditioner runs from May through October here, and on summer afternoons it's working against 90°F outside. That's six months of the compressor cycling on and off, all day, most days, to hold the house at temperature. A system that runs that much needs its coils clean and its refrigerant charge right, because dirt on the coil or a low charge makes the compressor work harder to do the same job.
Baldwin County also sees its share of hail and wind. Ten years of records show 35 hail events and 109 damaging wind events in the area. Hail up to 4 inches can bend the fins on an outdoor unit or crack a housing, and a tune-up is when a contractor spots that kind of damage before it turns into a bigger repair.
- 6 months
- May through October, your air conditioner is on duty
- 90°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 35 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 109 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
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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 and licenses the contractor, not the individual job. That means the license tells you the company itself was checked out by the state, not that a state inspector is coming to watch this particular maintenance visit.
For a maintenance call on your air conditioner, the license is what stands behind the person in your driveway. If the technician needs to touch the refrigerant, checking the charge or the coil, they also need EPA Section 608 certification, which is federal and applies no matter what state you're in. Between the two, the state license accounts for the contractor and the federal certification accounts for anyone handling refrigerant.
Source: Alabama Board of Heating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractors
- What does AC maintenance include?
- A technician checks refrigerant charge, cleans the condenser coil, and tests the capacitor and contactor in the outdoor unit. Inside, they check the evaporator coil, the blower, and the condensate drain, since a clogged drain is one of the most common reasons an AC shuts down in summer. They also check the filter and confirm the thermostat is calling for cooling correctly. The point of the visit is to catch a weak part before it fails on a 90 degree afternoon.
- How often does an air conditioner need maintenance?
- Once a year, ideally in spring before the cooling season starts here in May. Homes in Daphne run the AC six months out of the year, May through October, so the system gets real wear each summer. A yearly check catches a weak capacitor or a low refrigerant charge before it leaves you without cooling on a 90 degree day.
- Is AC maintenance worth it?
- Yes, because most AC failures start as a small problem that maintenance catches early, like a weak capacitor or a coil that is starting to clog. Daphne summers run six months long with afternoons averaging 90 degrees, so the system gets little rest to hide a developing problem. A yearly check gives it a fair chance to make it through the season without breaking down. It also matters after storms, since Daphne has logged 35 hail events and 109 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and either one can knock an outdoor unit out of alignment without it being obvious from the ground.