AC Repair in Dallas, TX
Air conditioners here run from May through October. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Dallas County will get in touch.
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Six months of Texas heat wears an AC down fast
Your air conditioner runs May through October here, six months straight, with summer afternoons averaging 94°F. That kind of stretch means the compressor and the fan motors rarely get a real break during the day. Parts that cycle on and off for hours at a time wear faster, and a system pushed this hard for this long tends to lose capacity before it fails outright. You notice it as a house that takes longer to cool down, or one that never quite gets there on the hottest afternoons.
Dallas County has also logged 186 hail events and 145 damaging wind events over the past ten years, with hail up to 4 inches. The outdoor unit sits outside through all of that, and its thin aluminum fins and coil are what take the hit. Bent fins block airflow across the coil, and a unit that cannot move air through the coil has to work harder to do the same job.
- 6 months
- May through October, your air conditioner is on duty
- 94°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 186 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 145 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new air conditioner would cut about $70 a year off cooling for a typical Dallas County home.
Estimates for a typical Dallas County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Texas 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.
Texas requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation tests contractors before it licenses them, then keeps a record of who holds one. The license belongs to the contractor, not to any single job. That same license stands behind this repair and every other job that contractor takes on.
Air conditioner repair means opening the refrigerant side of the system, and federal law requires anyone who does that work, in any state, to hold EPA Section 608 certification. So a licensed Texas contractor working on your air conditioner needs to carry both. The state license accounts for the contractor. The federal certification accounts for the refrigerant work itself.
Source: Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- The most common reason is a dirty air filter choking off airflow across the coil. When that happens the coil can freeze over, and once it does, the air coming out feels warm or barely moving at all. A low refrigerant charge from a leak causes the same thing, and so does a failing capacitor that won't let the compressor start. Check the filter first since that's the one thing you can rule out yourself. If it's clean and the air still isn't cold, a contractor will need to check the charge and the electrical components.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Water on the floor near your indoor unit almost always means the condensate drain line is clogged. Algae and dirt build up inside that line over a summer of steady use, and once it backs up, the water has nowhere to go but out. A frozen coil that's thawing out will do the same thing, so if the air was blowing weak or warm before you saw water, that's likely the cause. Either way, a contractor can clear the line or find out why the coil froze.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with your thermostat batteries and your breaker panel, since those are the two most common culprits and the easiest to check. If the thermostat screen is blank, it's the batteries or a wiring issue. If the breaker for your AC has tripped, that can mean the system is trying to draw more power than it should, and it's worth having a contractor look before you reset it more than once. With 145 damaging wind events recorded here over the past ten years, a tripped breaker or a blown fuse at the outdoor unit is also worth checking after any storm.