AC Repair in Maricopa, AZ
Air conditioners here run from April through October. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Pinal County will get in touch.
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Seven months of Arizona heat wears an AC down
Your air conditioner runs from April through October here, and on summer afternoons it's working against a high near 101°F. That kind of stretch doesn't let the system rest. The compressor cycles on and on through the day, and the heat load never really lets up.
Pinal County also sees its share of hail and wind, with 150 damaging wind events and 24 hail events recorded over the past ten years, some hail up to 1.75 inches. Wind drives debris into the outdoor unit's coil and fins, and hail can dent them. When the coil can't shed heat the way it should, the system struggles to cool the house, and you'll notice it blowing air that isn't as cold as it used to be.
- 7 months
- April through October, your air conditioner is on duty
- 101°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 24 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 150 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new air conditioner would cut about $100 a year off cooling for a typical Pinal County home.
Estimates for a typical Pinal 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 tests contractors before they're licensed and keeps a record of who holds one. That license belongs to the contractor, not to any single job, so the same license that qualifies them for your AC repair qualifies them for the next homeowner's job too.
For a repair like this, the license is what stands behind the person doing the work, but the refrigerant itself is covered separately. Anyone opening the refrigerant side of your air conditioner has to hold EPA Section 608 certification, a federal rule that applies no matter what state you're in. Between the two, you have a contractor the state has vetted and a technician certified to handle the refrigerant safely.
Sources: Arizona State Legislature · Arizona Registrar of Contractors
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- Most often the filter is clogged and starving the system of airflow, or the refrigerant is low from a leak somewhere in the line. A dirty outdoor coil can cause the same thing, since it stops the system from shedding heat the way it needs to. With summer afternoons here running around 101°F for months at a stretch, a system that's low on refrigerant will struggle to keep up even if it still blows air. A contractor can check the charge and the coils and tell you which one it is.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- The condensate drain line is probably clogged, which backs water up until it overflows the drain pan. Algae and dust build up inside that line over time and block it. It can also mean the evaporator coil has frozen and is now melting, which usually points to low refrigerant or weak airflow from a dirty filter. A contractor can clear the line or find out why the coil froze in the first place.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with the thermostat batteries and the breaker before anything else, since both are common and easy to check. If those are fine, the capacitor that starts the compressor and fan motor may have failed, which is one of the more common reasons a system won't start at all. Arizona has seen 150 damaging wind events here over the past ten years, and outages or power surges from storms like those can trip a breaker or damage electrical components. A licensed contractor can test the capacitor and the electrical connections to find out which it is.