Overhead view of an air conditioning condenser unit on a concrete pad next to a house with asphalt shingle roofing and vinyl siding.

AC Maintenance in Springfield, 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 Greene County will get in touch.

Tell us about the job

It takes about a minute.

Step 1 of 3: Equipment

What kind of equipment?*

Overhead view of a gray outdoor AC condenser unit on a concrete pad beside a mulched garden bed and a house with vinyl siding.

Four months of hard work in the Missouri heat

Your air conditioner runs from June through September here. Summer afternoons average 87°F, and for four months the unit has to work at close to full output almost every day.

A tune-up before that stretch checks the refrigerant charge and the condenser coil. It tests the capacitor that gets the compressor started, before that part fails on the hottest day of the year. Greene County has also logged 140 hail events and 302 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and a service visit is a chance to look over the outdoor unit for bent fins or a cabinet that took a hit.

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

Isometric cutaway illustration of a house interior showing ducted air handling equipment and duct runs through rooms, connected by piping to an outdoor condenser unit on a pad outside the wall.

Your air conditioner works hardest from June through August.

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NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals

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

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 cleans the condenser coil, checks the refrigerant charge, and tests the capacitor and contactor in the outdoor unit. Inside, they check the evaporator coil and the condensate drain, since a clogged drain is one of the most common causes of a shutdown in the middle of summer. They also check the thermostat calls and the electrical connections, then run the system to see that it cools the way it should. None of this takes the place of changing the filter, which the homeowner should do on their own between visits.
How often does an air conditioner need maintenance?: Once a year, done before the weather turns warm. Here that means getting it looked at before June, since the unit will run steadily from June through September once the heat sets in. A yearly check catches a weak capacitor or a low refrigerant charge before it turns into a breakdown on an 87 degree afternoon.
Is AC maintenance worth it?: Yes. A system that is not checked will run less efficiently and is more likely to fail on the hottest days, which around here means sometime between June and September. Regular maintenance also gives a technician the chance to catch a failing part before it strands the household without cooling. It will not prevent damage from something like a hailstorm, but it does keep the unit itself running the way it is supposed to for the rest of the season.

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