AC Repair in Clifton, AZ
Air conditioners here run from June through September. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Greenlee County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Four months of heat, every year
Clifton asks a lot of an air conditioner in a short stretch of time. From June through September, with afternoons averaging 88°F, the system runs hard to keep up, then sits idle the rest of the year.
That pattern of hard use followed by months of rest is tough on a capacitor or a contactor. Parts sit unused, then get asked to start the system on the first hot day and keep starting it day after day. When one of them wears out, the unit may hum without starting, or the air stops coming cold partway through the afternoon.
- 4 months
- June through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 88°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 15 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new air conditioner would cut about $30 a year off cooling for a typical Greenlee County home.
Estimates for a typical Greenlee County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Arizona 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.
Arizona requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The Registrar of Contractors tested this contractor before issuing that license, and the license stays tied to them, not to any one job. Arizona keeps that record on file, so the license you're checking is the contractor's own history, not just a business name on a form.
For a repair like this, the license is what stands behind the work. If the job involves opening the refrigerant side of your air conditioner, whoever does that also needs EPA Section 608 certification, which is federal and applies no matter what state you're in. That part isn't optional and it isn't something Arizona's license substitutes for.
Sources: Arizona State Legislature · Arizona Registrar of Contractors
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- Most of the time the air filter is clogged and starving the system of airflow, or the refrigerant is low from a leak. A dirty filter forces the coil to work harder and it can freeze up, which cuts cooling even though air is still moving. If the filter looks clean and air is still warm, a contractor will need to check the refrigerant charge, since low refrigerant will not fix itself.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- The drain line that carries condensation away from your indoor unit is probably clogged. Algae and dust build up inside that line over time and block it, so the water backs up and finds another way out, usually through the drain pan or down through the ceiling below. A frozen coil can cause the same thing once it thaws, so a contractor will check both the drain line and the coil to find where the water is really coming from.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Check your thermostat first, since a dead battery or a setting bumped to off will stop the system before it ever gets a signal. If the thermostat looks right, check the breaker for your AC, since a tripped breaker cuts power to the whole unit. If the breaker is fine and it still won't start, the problem is likely inside the unit itself, in a part like the capacitor or contactor, and that calls for a contractor to test it.