An outdoor air conditioning condenser unit positioned beside a blue-sided house at sunset.

AC Maintenance in Farmington, MO

Air conditioners here run from June through September, so May is the time for a tune-up. Tell us about your system, and a licensed contractor who covers St. Francois County will get in touch.

Tell us about the job

It takes about a minute.

Step 1 of 3: Equipment

What kind of equipment?*

Aerial view of a square outdoor air conditioning condenser unit on a concrete pad beside a house wall with a sliding glass door.

Four months of hard running, then months of sitting still

Your air conditioner in Farmington works hard from June through September, with afternoons averaging 86°F. That is a short season, but it is a demanding one. The compressor and fan run long hours to keep up, and the system does most of a year's work in those four months.

Then it sits idle the rest of the year. A tune-up before summer checks the refrigerant charge, the electrical connections, and the condenser coil, catching what the off-season let build up before the first hot week puts real load on it. St. Francois County has also seen its share of hail and wind, 19 hail events and 54 damaging wind events over the past ten years, so a look at the outdoor unit's fins and cabinet is worth including too.

4 months: June through September, your air conditioner is on duty
86°F: the average summer afternoon it cools against
19 hail events: in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
54 wind events: in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units

Isometric line illustration of a cutaway single-story house showing interior rooms with furniture, ceiling ductwork, an indoor air handler, and an outdoor condenser unit connected by lines along the exterior wall.

Your air conditioner works hardest from June through August.

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NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals

Aerial view of a gray central air conditioning condenser unit on a concrete pad next to a house with vinyl siding.

Book your AC tune-up in May, before homes here start needing cooling in June.

A tune-up checks the refrigerant charge, cleans the coils, tests the capacitor and tightens the electrical connections.

What does AC maintenance include?: A technician checks refrigerant pressure, cleans the outdoor coil, tests the capacitor, and checks that the system cycles on and off the way it should. They also check the thermostat settings and look at the condensate drain to make sure it isn't clogged. Farmington summers put the system to work for four straight months, June through September, so a coil caked with dirt or debris going into that stretch makes the unit work harder than it needs to. The filter gets checked too, since a dirty filter restricts airflow across that coil.
How often does an air conditioner need maintenance?: Once a year, ideally before the cooling season starts. Farmington homes only run their AC from June through September, so getting a check done ahead of that stretch means the system is ready when the 86°F afternoons hit. Waiting until the unit is already running means any problem found is a problem you're already living with.
Is AC maintenance worth it?: Yes, because it catches small problems while they're still small. A capacitor that's starting to weaken or a coil that's losing airflow will keep running, just poorly, until it fails outright on a hot afternoon. Farmington also sees real storm activity, with 54 damaging wind events and 19 hail events recorded over the past ten years, and a maintenance visit is when a technician would spot a bent fin or a cracked line before it turns into a bigger repair.

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