AC Repair in Paducah, KY
Air conditioners here run from May through September. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers McCracken County will get in touch.
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Five months of Paducah summer wears on your AC
Your air conditioner runs May through September here, and on summer afternoons that average 88°F it does not get much rest. The compressor and the fan run long hours to keep up, and the capacitor that gets them started takes the strain each time the system cycles on. A weak capacitor still lets the unit try to start, but the compressor hums or the fan does not spin, and the house stops cooling.
McCracken County has also seen 96 damaging wind events and 15 hail events over the last ten years, with hail up to 2.1 inches. Wind can bend the thin fins on your outdoor unit or knock debris into it, and hail that size can dent the cabinet or the fins enough to block airflow. Either way, the unit works harder to move the same air, and you notice the house cooling slower or not quite reaching the temperature you set.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 88°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 15 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 96 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new air conditioner would cut about $50 a year off cooling for a typical McCracken County home.
Estimates for a typical McCracken County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Kentucky 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.
Kentucky requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The state tests contractors before they can hold this license, and the Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction keeps the record of who passed. The license belongs to the contractor, not the job, so it does not expire when this repair is finished and it does not get reissued for the next one.
For a repair on your air conditioner, that state license is what stands behind the person doing the work. If the repair involves the refrigerant side of the system, the technician also has to hold EPA Section 608 certification, which is a federal requirement in every state and separate from Kentucky's license. Between the two, the contractor working on your air conditioner is accountable both to the state that licensed them and to the federal rule that governs refrigerant work.
Sources: Kentucky Legislative Research Commission · Kentucky Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- The most common cause is low refrigerant from a leak, a frozen evaporator coil, or a dirty air filter choking off airflow. If the coil has ice on it, turn the system off and let it thaw before anyone checks it further. Running a system low on refrigerant for long can damage the compressor, so this is worth getting looked at quickly, especially with afternoons here running near 88°F all summer. A licensed contractor will need to open the refrigerant side to check the charge, and that work requires EPA certification.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Warm, humid air passes over the evaporator coil and the moisture it pulls out has to drain somewhere, usually through a condensate line that can clog with algae and dirt over time. When that line backs up, the water has nowhere to go but out of the unit or down through the ceiling if the system is in an attic. A frozen coil that then thaws will do the same thing, so a clog and a freeze can look the same from the water alone. A contractor can trace it to the source.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Check the thermostat first, since a dead battery or a setting bumped to the wrong mode will stop the system before it ever starts. If the thermostat looks right, a tripped breaker or a blown fuse at the outdoor unit is the next likely cause, and Paducah gets enough damaging wind and hail that storm damage to electrical connections is worth ruling out too. If power is reaching the unit and it still won't start, the problem is inside the system and needs a licensed contractor to diagnose.