AC Repair in Salisbury, NC
Air conditioners here run from May through September. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Rowan County will get in touch.
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Five months of heat, then hail and wind
Your air conditioner runs from May through September in Rowan County, and on summer afternoons that average 87°F it does not get much of a break. It cycles on and off for hours at a stretch, and the compressor and the fan motor are the parts doing that work. When one of them starts to fail, you notice the air coming out warm, or the unit running longer than it used to just to hold the same temperature.
The outdoor unit sits outside through storms too. Rowan County has had 101 damaging wind events and 14 hail events over the past ten years, with hail up to 1.75 inches. Wind can bend the thin aluminum fins on the outdoor coil, and hail that size can dent them or crack the fan blade. Either one cuts down how much heat the unit can move, and you feel it as an air conditioner that runs and runs but never quite catches up.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 87°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 14 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 101 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new air conditioner would cut about $40 a year off cooling for a typical Rowan County home.
Estimates for a typical Rowan 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 state tested this contractor before handing out that license, and the Board keeps a record of who holds one. That record follows the contractor, not the job, so it doesn't change based on what your air conditioner needs done or what the repair runs.
Anyone opening the refrigerant lines on your system also has to hold EPA Section 608 certification, which is a federal requirement in every state, not something North Carolina adds on its own. Between the two, the license accounts for who's doing the work and the federal certification accounts for the part of the job that involves handling refrigerant.
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 is low from a leak somewhere in the line. A dirty filter can freeze the coil solid, and once that happens the air coming through your vents turns warm even though the unit runs fine. If the coil looks frosted or the air has been weak for a few days before quitting on cold entirely, that points to refrigerant. Low refrigerant means a leak, and only a technician with EPA Section 608 certification can open that side of the system to find it and recharge it.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Water around your unit usually means the condensate line is clogged or the drain pan has rusted through. Your AC pulls a lot of moisture out of the air over a five month cooling season here, and all of that water is supposed to run out through a small drain line to the outside. Algae and dirt build up in that line over time and back the water up until it spills over the pan instead. A frozen coil that then thaws can cause the same thing, so if the air was blowing weak before the leak started, that is likely where it began.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with the thermostat and the breaker before assuming the worst. Check that the thermostat is set to cool and below the room temperature, and check the breaker panel for one that has tripped. If those are fine, the capacitor that starts the compressor may have failed, which is a common reason a unit goes completely silent. With 101 damaging wind events recorded here over the past ten years, it is also worth checking the outdoor disconnect box near the condenser, since storms can knock loose or damage the connection there.