AC Repair in San Antonio, TX
Air conditioners here run from April through October. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Bexar County will get in touch.
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Seven months of Texas heat wears on your AC
Your air conditioner runs April through October here, with summer afternoons averaging 95°F. That is seven straight months of the compressor cycling on and off, trying to keep up. The long run times push harder on the capacitor and the fan motor, and those are often the first parts to fail. You notice it as the air coming from the vents turning warm, or the outdoor unit running but not cooling like it used to.
Bexar County has also seen 268 hail events and 104 damaging wind events over the past ten years, with hail up to 5.5 inches. Hail that size can bend or puncture the thin fins on the outdoor coil, and wind can throw debris into the unit. Either one can show up as reduced airflow or a system that struggles to cool even when nothing else seems wrong.
- 7 months
- April through October, your air conditioner is on duty
- 95°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 268 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 104 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new air conditioner would cut about $80 a year off cooling for a typical Bexar County home.
Estimates for a typical Bexar 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 issues that license, and it tests the contractor, not the job. TDLR records who holds a license, and that record covers the person or company taking on your repair, not a separate check on each visit they make.
For an air conditioner repair, that license is what stands behind the work. If the repair involves opening the refrigerant side of your system, which most air conditioner repairs do, the technician also has to hold EPA Section 608 certification. That one comes from federal law and applies the same way in every state. Texas puts the license on the contractor, and the EPA puts the certification on the person handling the refrigerant.
Source: Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- The most common cause is a dirty air filter choking off airflow, so start there before anything else. A clogged filter starves the coil of air and it can freeze over, and once that happens you get weak or warm airflow until the ice melts. Low refrigerant from a leak is another common reason, and that one needs a licensed contractor since it means opening the sealed system. If the filter looks clean and the vents are open, have someone check the refrigerant charge and the coil.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Water around your indoor unit usually means the condensate drain line is clogged. Your AC pulls a lot of moisture out of the air, especially through a San Antonio summer, and that water is supposed to run out through a drain line to the outside. Algae and dirt build up in that line over time and block it, so the water backs up and drips out near the unit instead. A dirty air filter can also cause this indirectly, by letting the coil ice over and then drip water everywhere as it thaws.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Check your thermostat batteries and the breaker panel first, since those two things cause a lot of no-start calls. If the breaker keeps tripping when you reset it, stop resetting it and call a contractor, because that points to an electrical problem in the unit itself. Outdoor units also take a direct hit during hail and high wind, and San Antonio has seen plenty of both, so a storm-damaged fan motor or capacitor is worth ruling out if bad weather came through recently. Any contractor working on it needs to hold a Texas HVAC license through the state licensing department.