AC Repair in Jefferson City, MO
Air conditioners here run from May through September. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Cole County will get in touch.
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Five months of hard running in Jefferson City heat
Your air conditioner works from May through September here, with summer afternoons averaging 87°F. That means long run times, day after day, with little break between them. The parts that keep the system going, the capacitor and the contactor, wear from that steady load and give out more from long summers than from any one hot day.
Cole County has also logged 17 hail events and 21 damaging wind events over the past ten years, with hailstones up to 3 inches. Hail that size can bend the fins on your outdoor unit or crack the fan blade, and a bent coil cools the house less no matter how long the system runs. If your air is not as cold as it used to be, or the outdoor unit sounds rougher than before, either one could explain it.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 87°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 17 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 21 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new air conditioner would save little on running costs in Cole County, so the repair decision comes down to the unit's condition.
Estimates for a typical Cole County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Missouri 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.
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- The most common cause is a dirty air filter choking off airflow across the coil. When that happens the coil can ice up, and what little air comes through feels warm. A low refrigerant charge from a leak does the same thing and won't fix itself, so if a new filter doesn't solve it, the system needs a contractor to check the charge and find the leak.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Your AC pulls moisture out of the air as it cools your house, and that water is supposed to run out through the condensate drain line. If that line is clogged with algae or sludge, the water backs up and drips or pools near the indoor unit. A frozen coil melting and overflowing the drain pan does it too. Either way it's worth shutting the system off until a contractor clears the line or finds why the coil froze.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with the thermostat batteries and the breaker before anything else, since both are common and easy to check yourself. If those are fine, the capacitor that starts the compressor and fan motor may have failed, which is a common reason a unit sits silent and does nothing when you set the temperature. Jefferson City sees its share of damaging wind and hail, so a tripped breaker after a storm is worth ruling out before assuming a bigger part has failed.