AC Repair in Richmond, KY
Air conditioners here run from May through September. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Madison County will get in touch.
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Five months of Richmond heat, and storms on top of it
Your AC runs from May through September here, and on a lot of those afternoons it's pushing against 85°F outside. That kind of stretch means long run times day after day, and the compressor and the fan motor are the parts doing that work. When one of them starts to go, you'll notice the air isn't as cold as it should be, or the unit runs and runs without catching up.
Madison County has also seen 87 damaging wind events and 17 hail storms over the past ten years, with hail up to 2.75 inches. That kind of weather bends the thin fins on your outdoor coil and can crack the fan blade or dent the cabinet enough to throw the fan off balance. If your system was running fine before a storm came through and struggling after, that's usually where to look.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 85°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 17 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 87 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new air conditioner would cut about $40 a year off cooling for a typical Madison County home.
Estimates for a typical Madison 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 license is issued to the contractor, not to the job, so it exists before your air conditioner ever comes up and covers whatever work that contractor takes on. The state's Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction is the one that issues it, which means there is a record to check and a body that can pull the license if the work is bad.
An AC repair almost always means opening the refrigerant side of the system, and federal law requires the technician doing that to hold EPA Section 608 certification, no matter what state they work in. In Madison County that certification and the state license are two separate things, one from Washington and one from Frankfort, and a repair on your system should have both behind it.
Sources: Kentucky Legislative Research Commission · Kentucky Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- Most of the time the refrigerant charge is low or the airflow across the indoor coil is blocked. A dirty filter or a coil caked with dust starves the system of airflow, and the coil can ice over as a result. Low refrigerant almost always means a leak somewhere in the line, not just a system that needs a top-off. Only a technician with EPA 608 certification is allowed to open the refrigerant side to check the charge and find the leak, so if the filter is clean and air still isn't cold, that's the next step.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Water around your indoor unit almost always means the condensate drain line is clogged. Algae and dust build up in that line over a cooling season and back the water up until it overflows the drain pan. It can also mean the drain pan itself has rusted through, or the coil has frozen and is now melting and dripping faster than the pan can handle. With five months of cooling here, from May through September, that line gets a lot of use, so clearing it before summer starts is worth doing.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with the thermostat and the breaker before you assume the worst. A dead thermostat battery or a tripped breaker will stop the system cold and both are easy to check yourself. If those are fine, the problem is likely electrical, a failed capacitor or contactor being the usual cause, and that calls for a licensed technician. Kentucky requires the contractor doing this repair to hold a state HVAC license, and if the fix involves the refrigerant lines, EPA 608 certification too.