AC Repair in Muscle Shoals, AL
Air conditioners here run from May through September. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Colbert County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Five months of 89-degree afternoons wear an AC down
From May through September your air conditioner is working most days, and on a lot of them the afternoon high is near 89°F. That kind of steady load falls on the compressor and the capacitor that helps start it. A weak capacitor makes the compressor struggle to start, and you will hear it hum or click instead of kicking on.
Colbert County also gets its share of rough weather. Over the last ten years there have been 463 damaging wind events and 22 hail storms, one with hail up to 1.75 inches. Wind can bend the fins on your outdoor unit or knock debris into it, and hail that size can dent the coil or the cabinet around it. Either one makes the unit work harder to move the same amount of air.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 89°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 22 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 463 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 Colbert County home.
Estimates for a typical Colbert 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 tests and licenses HVAC contractors before they can take on work like this. The license belongs to the contractor, not to any single job, so it follows them from one repair to the next rather than getting issued fresh each time.
For a repair on your air conditioner, the state license is what stands behind the person doing the work. If the repair means opening the refrigerant side of the system, the technician also has to hold EPA Section 608 certification, which is a federal requirement in every state and separate from Alabama's license.
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 choking off airflow, or the outdoor unit is dirty and can't shed heat the way it needs to. Low refrigerant from a leak is another common cause, and that one won't fix itself since the charge doesn't run low without a reason. With afternoons here averaging 89°F for months at a stretch, a system that's low on refrigerant will struggle even harder to keep up. A contractor can check the charge and find where it's escaping.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- The drain line is probably clogged, and the condensate that normally flows outside is backing up and finding another way out. Algae and dust build up in that line over time, especially after months of steady summer use. It can also mean the coil has frozen and is now melting and shedding more water than the drain pan can handle. Either way, water where it shouldn't be means something inside needs a contractor's attention before it causes more damage.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Check the thermostat batteries and the breaker first, since those stop a system cold and are the easiest to rule out. If those are fine, the capacitor that gives the compressor and fan motor their starting jolt may have failed, which is one of the most common reasons an AC won't start at all. Storms bring damaging wind through this area, and a power surge from one can be enough to take out a capacitor or a control board. A contractor can test the electrical side and tell you which part failed.