AC Maintenance in El Paso, TX
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 El Paso County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Five months of hard running in El Paso heat
Your air conditioner works from May through September here, and on a 95°F afternoon it doesn't get much of a break. The compressor runs long stretches to hold the house at temperature, day after day, for five months straight.
A tune-up before the season gets going checks the parts that carry that load. Low refrigerant makes the compressor work harder than it should. Dirty coils make it run longer to move the same heat. Catching either one early means the system isn't straining through the hottest months on a problem that started small.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 95°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 57 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 70 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.
Texas requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation issues that license to the contractor, not to any single job. That means the testing and the record sit with the business you hire, and the same license covers this maintenance visit as much as it would a full installation.
For an AC maintenance visit, the part of the job that falls outside state licensing is the refrigerant. Any technician who opens the refrigerant side of your air conditioner, to check the charge or recover refrigerant, has to hold EPA Section 608 certification, a federal requirement that applies in every state regardless of what Texas licenses. So a Texas license tells you the contractor is on record with the state, and the 608 card tells you the person touching your refrigerant is cleared to do it under federal rule.
Source: Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation
- What does AC maintenance include?
- A contractor checks refrigerant charge, cleans the outdoor coil, tests the capacitor, and looks over the electrical connections. They also check the blower and the indoor coil, and confirm the thermostat is calling for cooling correctly. The filter gets checked too, since a clogged filter restricts airflow across the whole system. Coils get cleaned as part of this, since a dirty coil makes the system work harder to move the same amount of heat.
- How often does an air conditioner need maintenance?
- Once a year is standard, ideally before the season it works hardest. In El Paso that means having it checked before May, since the system runs from May through September with afternoons averaging 95°F. A unit that sits idle most of the year and then gets pushed hard in summer heat benefits from that check before the heat arrives, not after something fails.
- Is AC maintenance worth it?
- Yes, because it catches small problems while they are still small. A weak capacitor or a low refrigerant charge will not stop a system right away, but it makes the compressor work harder, and that wear adds up over a five-month cooling season. El Paso has also logged 57 hail events and 70 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and a check after a storm can find bent coil fins or debris in the cabinet before they turn into a bigger repair.