An outdoor air conditioning condenser unit positioned on a concrete pad next to a blue-sided house, surrounded by green shrubs and flowering hydrangeas at sunset.

AC Maintenance in Rolla, MO

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 Phelps County will get in touch.

Tell us about the job

It takes about a minute.

Step 1 of 3: Equipment

What kind of equipment?*

An outdoor air conditioning condenser unit on a concrete pad next to the gray vinyl siding of a residential home.

Five months of Rolla heat, and hail besides

Your air conditioner works from May through September here, and on the afternoons that hit 87°F it runs long stretches to keep up. That kind of runtime puts real hours on the compressor and the fan motor, and a unit that never gets checked is a unit where a weak capacitor or a dirty coil goes unnoticed until the day it can't keep the house cool at all.

Phelps County has also seen 55 hail events and 56 damaging wind events over the past ten years. Hail up to 2 inches can bend the thin fins on your outdoor coil or dent the cabinet, and a service visit is a chance to catch that kind of damage before it cuts into how well the unit cools.

5 months: May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
87°F: the average summer afternoon it cools against
55 hail events: in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
56 wind events: in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units

Isometric line illustration of a cutaway house showing interior rooms with ductwork, an air handler and furnace, connected by lines to an outdoor condenser unit on the ground outside.

Your air conditioner works hardest from June through August.

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NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals

Aerial view of a residential air conditioning condenser unit mounted on a concrete pad next to a house with vinyl siding and a sliding glass door.

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

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 condenser coil outside, and tests the capacitor and contactor that keep the compressor running. They also check the blower motor, change or check the filter, and clear the condensate drain so it isn't clogged when you need it most. With 55 hail events and 56 damaging wind events recorded here over the past ten years, the outdoor unit is also worth a visual check for bent fins or debris after a storm.
How often does an air conditioner need maintenance?: Once a year, in spring before the heat starts. Homes here run the AC from May through September, five months straight, so a spring check catches a weak capacitor or a low refrigerant charge before it fails on a 87°F afternoon.
Is AC maintenance worth it?: Yes. A yearly check finds the small failures, a weak capacitor, a dirty coil, a clogged drain, before they turn into a system that won't run at all. That matters here since the cooling season runs five months and afternoons average 87°F, which leaves little room for a unit that isn't working right.

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