AC Repair in Alabaster, AL
Air conditioners here run from May through September. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Shelby County will get in touch.
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Five months of Alabaster summer wears on your AC
From May through September your air conditioner runs most days, and on afternoons near 90°F it runs long stretches to keep up. That kind of runtime puts real hours on the compressor and the fan motor, the two parts that carry the load every time the system cycles on.
Shelby County has also seen 94 damaging wind events and 18 hail events over the past ten years, with hail up to 1.75 inches. The outdoor unit sits outside through all of it, and hail that size can bend the thin aluminum fins on the coil. Bent fins block airflow across the coil, so the system works harder and cools less, even if nothing else is wrong with it.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 90°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 18 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 94 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new air conditioner would cut about $50 a year off cooling for a typical Shelby County home.
Estimates for a typical Shelby County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Alabama fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Repair makes sense when a part like a capacitor or contactor has failed.
Replacement makes sense when the compressor has failed or the system uses R-22 refrigerant, which is no longer made.
Alabama requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
Alabama licenses HVAC contractors through the Alabama Board of Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Contractors. That license covers the contractor, not each job, so the board stands behind who is doing the work rather than signing off on this particular repair.
Your air conditioner runs on refrigerant, and any technician who opens that side of the system has to hold EPA Section 608 certification, no matter what state they work in. That rule comes from the federal government, not Alabama. Between the two, the state license is what stands behind the contractor, and the federal certification is what stands behind the refrigerant work itself.
Source: Alabama Board of Heating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractors
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- Most often the filter is clogged and starving the system of airflow, or the refrigerant charge is low from a leak. A dirty filter will make the coil ice up, and once that happens the air coming out feels warm even though the system is running fine otherwise. Low refrigerant means a leak somewhere in the line set or coil, and that needs a licensed contractor to find and seal before adding more. With afternoons here averaging 90°F through the summer, a system running low on charge falls behind fast, so it is worth checking the filter first and calling for a diagnosis if that is not the issue.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Water around your indoor unit usually means the condensate drain line is clogged. Algae and dirt build up in that line over time and back the water up until it overflows the drain pan instead of running outside. It can also mean the drain pan itself has rusted through, or that the coil has iced over from low airflow and is now melting onto the floor as it runs. A contractor can clear the line or replace the pan, and either job is usually quick once the cause is confirmed.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with the thermostat and the breaker. If the thermostat screen is blank, check the batteries first, and if the breaker has tripped, reset it once and see if it holds. A breaker that trips again right away points to an electrical problem in the unit itself, like a bad capacitor or a failing compressor, and that calls for a licensed contractor rather than another reset. Alabama requires HVAC contractors to be licensed through the state board, so ask for that license number before any repair work begins.