AC Maintenance in Fort Payne, 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 DeKalb County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Five months of heavy use in Fort Payne heat
Your air conditioner runs May through September here, and on the afternoons that hit 86°F it doesn't get much of a break. That kind of stretch puts real hours on the compressor and the fan motor, and a system that runs long hours every day for five months wears faster than one that only kicks on now and then.
DeKalb County has also seen its share of hailstorms and high wind over the past ten years, storms strong enough to bend fins on an outdoor unit or knock it out of alignment. A tune-up checks the coil and the fins for damage like that, checks the refrigerant charge, and looks at the electrical connections before a hot summer day finds the weak one.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 86°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 24 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 203 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.
Alabama's license is held by the contractor, not issued per job. The Alabama Board of Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Contractors tested that contractor and keeps them on record, so the license is a mark on the business and the person running it, not a paper tied to your particular AC.
For maintenance work, that license is what stands behind the technician who shows up. If the work includes checking the refrigerant charge or getting into the sealed system, federal law also requires the technician to hold EPA Section 608 certification, the same rule that applies in every state.
Source: Alabama Board of Heating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractors
- What does AC maintenance include?
- A technician checks the refrigerant charge, cleans the condenser coil outside, and looks over the electrical connections and capacitor. They will also check the condensate drain, since a clogged one backs up and can shut the system down or damage a ceiling. Inside, the evaporator coil and blower get checked, and the filter gets changed if it needs it. The point is to catch a weak part before it fails during the months the system runs hardest, not just to look busy.
- How often does an air conditioner need maintenance?
- Once a year, in spring before the heat sets in. Here, that means getting it done before May, since the system runs from May through September with afternoons averaging 86°F. A unit that sits idle for months and then gets asked to run flat out for that stretch benefits from being checked before it starts, not during it.
- Is AC maintenance worth it?
- Yes, because most breakdowns trace back to something small that got missed, a weak capacitor, a dirty coil, a low refrigerant charge, none of which show up until the system is under load. Catching those in spring means fewer no-cool calls during the five months a year homes here need cooling. Fort Payne has also logged 24 hail events and 203 damaging wind events over the last ten years, so a yearly check is also a chance to catch coil damage from a storm before it turns into a bigger repair.