AC Repair in Concord, NC
Air conditioners here run from May through September. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Cabarrus County will get in touch.
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Five months of heat, every year, on your AC
From May through September your air conditioner is the only thing standing between your house and 88 degree afternoons. That is five months of the compressor running hard, day after day, with little break to rest.
Cabarrus County also sees its share of hail and wind. Ten years of storm records show 26 hail events and 60 damaging wind events, with hail up to 2.75 inches. That kind of weather bends fins on the outdoor coil and can crack the fan blade or knock the unit out of alignment. You notice it as an air conditioner that runs but cools less, or one that suddenly makes noise it never made before.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 88°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 26 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 60 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 Cabarrus County home.
Estimates for a typical Cabarrus County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, North Carolina 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.
North Carolina requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The license is issued to the contractor, not to each job. It follows the person or business doing the work rather than the repair itself. That license comes from the State Board of Examiners of Plumbing, Heating and Fire Sprinkler Contractors, and it is the contractor's name on record with that board, not the job in your house.
For a repair like this, the license is what makes the contractor accountable to the state board for the work. But opening the refrigerant side of your air conditioner falls under a separate rule that holds in every state. The technician has to carry EPA Section 608 certification for that part of the job. That certification is federal. North Carolina's license does not replace it, and it does not test for it either.
Sources: North Carolina General Assembly · North Carolina State Board of Examiners of Plumbing, Heating and Fire Sprinkler Contractors
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- Most of the time the filter is clogged and starving the system of airflow, or the refrigerant charge is low from a leak somewhere in the line set or coil. A dirty outdoor unit can cause the same thing, since it can't shed heat if the coil is caked with grass clippings or cottonwood. A contractor licensed by the state board can check the charge and pressures and tell you which one it is.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- The drain line is probably clogged. Condensate drips off the indoor coil into a pan, and that pan drains outside through a small line that grows algae over time and backs up. A frozen coil that then thaws will also flood the pan faster than it can drain. Either way, the fix means opening up the system, which is work for a licensed contractor, not something to keep running through.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with the thermostat batteries and the breaker before anything else, since both are common causes and both are free to check. If those are fine, the capacitor that starts the outdoor unit's motor may have failed, which happens more often after years of Concord summers pushing the system hard through afternoons near 88°F. Diagnosing and replacing it means opening the electrical side of the unit, so that part is for a licensed contractor to handle.