AC Repair in Birmingham, AL
Air conditioners here run from May through September. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Jefferson County will get in touch.
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Five months of Alabama heat wears an AC down
Your air conditioner runs May through September here, and on a 90 degree afternoon it doesn't get much of a break. The compressor cycles on and stays on for long stretches, and the longer it runs each day, the more wear it puts on the parts that keep it running. A capacitor that's weakening will make the unit struggle to start on the hottest afternoons. A condenser fan motor under strain will get you warm air instead of cold.
Jefferson County has also seen 46 hail events and 166 damaging wind events over the past ten years, with hailstones up to 2.5 inches. That kind of weather bends the fins on an outdoor unit and can knock loose the electrical connections inside it. You notice it as a system that runs but barely cools, or one that trips off and won't restart.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 90°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 46 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 166 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new air conditioner would cut about $60 a year off cooling for a typical Jefferson County home.
Estimates for a typical Jefferson 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 Alabama Board of Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Contractors issues that license, and it covers the contractor, not the individual job. That means the state has tested this contractor and keeps a record of them, but licensing them once does not mean every repair gets checked behind them.
For a repair on your air conditioner, the contractor working on it also needs to hold EPA Section 608 certification, since that covers anyone who opens the refrigerant side of a system, in Alabama or any other state. The state license and the federal certification are different things checking different parts of the job, one for the business and one for the person handling the refrigerant.
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 choking off airflow across the coil. When the filter is clogged, the coil can ice up and stop cooling the air passing over it. A low refrigerant charge from a leak will do the same thing, and so will a failing compressor. Check the filter first, since that's the one thing you can rule out yourself before calling someone.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Your AC makes water as it pulls moisture out of the air, and that water is supposed to run out through a drain line to the outside. If that line clogs with algae or dirt, the water backs up and drips inside the house instead. A dirty filter can also cause this by icing up the coil, which then drips as it melts. Either way, the fix starts with finding where the water is actually coming from before anything else.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. Check that it's set to cool and the batteries aren't dead, then check the breaker for the outdoor unit and the indoor air handler, since either one tripping will shut the whole system down. If both look fine and it still won't start, the capacitor or contactor in the outdoor unit may have failed. Birmingham has seen 166 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and a power surge during one of those storms can trip a breaker or damage a component.