AC Maintenance in Hendersonville, NC
Air conditioners here run from June through August, so May is the time for a tune-up. Tell us about your system, and a licensed contractor who covers Henderson County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Three months of heavy use, every year
Your air conditioner in Hendersonville earns its keep from June through August, when summer afternoons average 81°F. That is a short season, but a hard one. The system runs long hours day after day to hold the house at temperature, and it gets little rest in between.
Hendersonville has also seen 23 hail events and 42 damaging wind events over the past ten years. A condenser sits outside through all of that, fins exposed, fan blade exposed. Hail can bend the fins that let the unit shed heat. Wind can pull debris into the cabinet or knock the unit out of level. A tune-up checks the condenser for that kind of damage and confirms the system is still running the way it should before the next stretch of hot afternoons arrives.
- 3 months
- June through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 81°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 23 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 42 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Book your AC tune-up in May, before homes here start needing cooling in June.
- 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 State Board of Examiners of Plumbing, Heating and Fire Sprinkler Contractors tested this contractor before issuing that license, and the board keeps a record of who holds one. The license belongs to the contractor, not to any single job, so the same credential that covers a new install covers a maintenance visit.
That license is what stands behind the work here. If the technician opens the refrigerant side of the system to check the charge, federal law also requires EPA Section 608 certification, the same rule that applies in every state regardless of what North Carolina licenses.
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 pressure, cleans the condenser coil, and tests the capacitor and contactor in the outdoor unit. They also check the filter, look at the evaporator coil if it's accessible, and confirm the system is pulling the temperature drop it should across the coil. Anyone opening the refrigerant side needs to hold an EPA Section 608 certification, so this isn't work a homeowner can do themselves. The visit catches the small failures, a weak capacitor, a dirty coil, before they turn into a system that won't run in the middle of summer.
- How often does an air conditioner need maintenance?
- Once a year, before the season it has to work hardest. Here that means getting it looked at before June, since the unit only runs June through August and any problem it has will show up fast once the afternoons hit 81°F. A yearly check also gives someone a reason to look the system over after a hailstorm or a bad wind event, since both are common enough here to matter.
- Is AC maintenance worth it?
- Yes, because most of what stops an air conditioner from running is small and cheap to catch early. A dirty coil or a weak capacitor won't fail the day it's found, but it will fail on the hottest afternoon of summer if it's left alone. With only three months of cooling season here, there's no slack in the year to lose a week of it waiting on a repair that a spring checkup would have caught.