AC Repair in Parkville, MO
Air conditioners here run from May through September. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Platte County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Five months of heat, then the storms that come with it
Parkville asks a lot of an air conditioner from May through September. On afternoons that average 87°F, the system has to run long hours just to hold the house steady, and the compressor and condenser fan are the parts doing that work outside in the heat. When one of them strains, you notice it as a system that runs longer than it used to, or one that quits cooling on the hottest part of the day.
Platte County has also seen 90 hail events and 68 damaging wind events over the past ten years, with hail as large as 2.75 inches. That kind of storm can bend the thin fins on the outdoor coil or knock the unit out of alignment, and the damage does not always show itself right away. Sometimes it turns up weeks later as a system that struggles to cool once the next heat wave hits.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 87°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 90 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 68 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 Platte County, so the repair decision comes down to the unit's condition.
Estimates for a typical Platte 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, so start there. A clogged filter can freeze up the coil, and once that happens the air coming through the vents turns warm even though the system is running. Low refrigerant from a leak causes the same problem, but that needs a licensed contractor to check since it involves handling refrigerant. If the filter looks clean and the air is still warm, the coil or the refrigerant charge is the likely next place to look.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Water around your unit usually means the condensate drain line is clogged. Your AC pulls a lot of moisture out of the air on a hot afternoon here, and that water is supposed to run out through a drain line to the outside. When the line clogs with algae or dirt, the water backs up and drips from the unit instead, sometimes into the drain pan and sometimes onto the floor. A dirty filter can cause the same leak a different way, by freezing the coil so it drips as it thaws.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Check the thermostat first, since a dead battery or a setting bumped off cool will stop the system before it starts. If the thermostat looks fine, check the breaker panel. A tripped breaker is common after a storm, and with 68 damaging wind events here over the past ten years, that is worth ruling out before anything else. If the breaker is fine and the thermostat is calling for cooling but nothing happens outside, the capacitor or the contactor in the outdoor unit may have failed, and that is a job for a licensed contractor.