AC Repair in Athens, AL
Air conditioners here run from May through September. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing 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 wears a system down fast
From May through September your air conditioner runs almost every day, working against afternoons that average 89°F. That kind of stretch doesn't let the system rest, and the compressor and capacitor take the brunt of it. A weak capacitor can't kick the compressor into gear, and the outdoor unit hums but won't start.
Limestone County has also seen 171 damaging wind events and 31 hail storms over the past ten years, with hail up to 2.5 inches. Wind can bend the thin fins on the outdoor coil, and hail that size can dent them outright. Once those fins are damaged, the coil can't shed heat the way it should, and the house struggles to cool down even with the unit running.
- 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
A new air conditioner would cut about $50 a year off cooling for a typical Limestone County home.
Estimates for a typical Limestone 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.
The state board tests contractors before it licenses them, and it keeps a record of who holds one. That license belongs to the contractor, not to any single repair, so the same license that qualifies someone to install a furnace also qualifies them for the air conditioner repair on this page.
For this job specifically, there is a second layer under that license. If the repair means opening the refrigerant side of your air conditioner, whoever does that work has to hold EPA Section 608 certification, the same as any technician in any state. Alabama's license tells you the contractor was tested and is on record. The federal certification is what says the person handling the refrigerant itself was trained to do it safely.
Source: Alabama Board of Heating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractors
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- The most common reason is a dirty air filter cutting off airflow across the coil, which can cause it to ice over and stop cooling. Low refrigerant from a leak is another common cause, and it will not fix itself by adding more, since the leak has to be found and sealed first. If the outdoor unit is dirty or blocked by grass and debris, it cannot release heat properly, and the air inside will run warm even with the system running all afternoon. A contractor can check the filter, the coil, and the refrigerant charge to find which one it is.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Most of the time this means the condensate drain line is clogged, so water backs up and drips out instead of draining away. Algae and dust build up inside that line over a cooling season and block it. A frozen coil that then thaws can also flood the drain pan faster than it can drain, which shows up as water pooling under the indoor unit. Either way, the water needs to be traced back to its source before it causes damage to the floor or ceiling around the unit.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Check the thermostat first, since dead batteries or a tripped breaker behind it are common and simple to rule out. If the breaker at the panel has tripped, that can point to a bigger electrical problem in the outdoor unit, like a failing capacitor or motor drawing too much current. After a storm, a power surge can also trip a breaker or damage the control board, and with 171 damaging wind events recorded here over the past ten years, that is worth checking if the outage followed a storm. A contractor can test the electrical components to find what shut the system down.