AC Maintenance in Lake Havasu City, AZ
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 Mohave County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Five months of 96 degree afternoons, every year
Your air conditioner runs from May through September here, and on a lot of those afternoons it's pushing against 96°F to keep the house comfortable. That kind of heat means long run times, day after day, with the compressor and the fan motor rarely getting a break.
A tune-up before that stretch starts catches the things that heat load makes worse. Low refrigerant that would barely show up early in the season turns into a system that can't keep the house cool once the heat sets in. A weak capacitor that starts the compressor fine on a mild day can fail outright when it has to do that job for five months straight.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 96°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 22 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 149 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.
Arizona requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The license comes from the Arizona Registrar of Contractors, and it is tied to the contractor, not to any single job. That means the state has tested this contractor and keeps a record of them, and that record carries over from one air conditioner to the next, not just this one.
For a maintenance visit, that license is what stands behind the person in your yard or your attic. If the work involves opening the refrigerant side of your air conditioner, checking pressures, adding refrigerant, anything like that, the technician also has to hold EPA Section 608 certification. That one is federal and applies in every state, so it sits alongside the Arizona license rather than replacing any part of it.
Sources: Arizona State Legislature · Arizona Registrar of Contractors
- What does AC maintenance include?
- A technician checks refrigerant charge, cleans the condenser coil, tests capacitors and the contactor, and checks the condensate drain for clogs. They also check airflow across the indoor coil and look at the filter, the ductwork connections, and the thermostat settings. A clean coil moves heat better, and that matters when the unit is working against 96°F afternoons for months at a time.
- How often does an air conditioner need maintenance?
- Once a year, in spring before the heat sets in. That gives a technician time to catch a weak capacitor or a low refrigerant charge before the system has to run every day. Here that means scheduling before May, since the unit runs from May through September and a problem found once the heat is on costs you cooling days you cannot spare.
- Is AC maintenance worth it?
- Yes, because a unit that runs five months straight in 96°F heat has little room for a small problem to go unnoticed. Regular maintenance catches a failing capacitor or a dirty coil before it causes a breakdown on the hottest day of the year. It also gives a technician a chance to check the parts that wear from constant summer use, before the system depends on them every day.