AC Maintenance in Durham, NC
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 Durham County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Five months of hard running in Durham heat
Your air conditioner works May through September here, and on the afternoons that hit 88°F it runs long stretches just to hold the house steady. That kind of steady demand wears on the parts that keep the system running, the capacitor, the contactor, the condenser coil. A coil caked with pollen and dust cannot shed heat the way it should, so the compressor works harder and runs longer to do the same job.
Durham County has logged 104 damaging wind events and 22 hail storms over the past ten years, one dropping hail 1.75 inches across. A tune-up includes a look at the outdoor unit itself, the cabinet, the fins, the fan blade, for anything a storm bent or cracked before it turns into a bigger problem mid-summer.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 88°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 22 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 104 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.
North Carolina requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The license comes from the state board that examines and records HVAC contractors in North Carolina. It is tied to the contractor, not to any single job, so the same license that covers a new installation covers a maintenance visit like this one.
For a maintenance visit, that license is what stands behind the person in your home. If the work involves opening the refrigerant side of your air conditioner, checking pressures or the coil, the technician also needs EPA Section 608 certification, which is a federal requirement that applies in every state regardless of what North Carolina's board covers.
Sources: North Carolina General Assembly · North Carolina State Board of Examiners of Plumbing, Heating and Fire Sprinkler Contractors
- What does AC maintenance include?
- A technician checks refrigerant charge, cleans the outdoor coil, tests the capacitor, and checks the electrical connections. They also change or check the filter and look at the condensate drain, since a clogged drain can back up and cause water damage. Airflow across the indoor coil gets checked too, because low airflow makes the whole system work harder than it should. Anyone opening the refrigerant side of the unit has to hold EPA Section 608 certification, so this part of the job stays with a licensed contractor.
- How often does an air conditioner need maintenance?
- Once a year, before the cooling season starts. Homes here run the air conditioner from May through September, so having it checked in spring catches problems before the summer heat sets in. A unit that sits idle over the winter can develop issues that only show up once it's working hard again, and summer afternoons here averaging 88°F don't leave much room for a system that isn't running right.
- Is AC maintenance worth it?
- Yes, because a system that runs 5 months a year here needs its parts checked before it's asked to work hard in the heat. Maintenance catches a weak capacitor or low refrigerant charge before either one leaves the house without cooling on a 88°F afternoon. It also means the coil and drain are clean, so the unit isn't working harder than it needs to just to keep the house comfortable.