AC Repair in El Paso, TX
Air conditioners here run from May through September. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers El Paso County will get in touch.
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Five months of El Paso heat wears on your AC
From May through September your air conditioner is working most days, and summer afternoons here average 95°F. That kind of stretch keeps the compressor running long hours to hold the house at temperature, and it's usually the compressor or the capacitor that gives out first after a few summers of that load.
El Paso County has also logged 57 hail events and 70 damaging wind events over the past ten years. Hail up to 2 inches can bend the fins on the outdoor unit or dent the cabinet, and either one cuts down how well it sheds heat. If your air is running but not cooling like it used to, or the outdoor unit looks dented or is making noise it didn't before, that history is often why.
- 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
A new air conditioner would cut about $60 a year off cooling for a typical El Paso County home.
Estimates for a typical El Paso 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, and it keeps a record of who holds one. The license covers the contractor, not each individual job. That means the person named on the license is the one accountable for the work, whether it is a repair or a full installation.
Repairing an air conditioner means opening the refrigerant side of the system. Federal law requires anyone who does that, in every state, to hold EPA Section 608 certification. A contractor working on your air conditioner in El Paso County should hold both. The state license puts them on record. The federal certification is what the refrigerant work itself requires.
Source: Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- Most often the filter is clogged and starving the system of airflow, or the refrigerant charge is low from a leak. A dirty filter makes the coil work harder until it ices over, and once that happens you get weak air instead of cold air. Low refrigerant means a leak somewhere in the line, and that will not fix itself. A contractor can check the charge and pressures and tell you which one it is.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- The drain line is probably clogged. Your AC pulls moisture out of the air and that water is supposed to run out through a condensate line, but algae and dirt build up inside that line over time and block it. When it backs up, the water finds another way out, usually through the ceiling or around the indoor unit. A contractor can clear the line and make sure the drain pan underneath is not cracked too.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with the thermostat and the breaker before assuming the worst. Check that the thermostat is set to cool and below room temperature, and check the breaker panel for a tripped switch, since a tripped breaker will not always look tripped at a glance. If both of those check out, the capacitor or the contactor inside the outdoor unit may have failed, and those need a contractor to replace.