AC Repair in Springfield, MA
Air conditioners here run from July through August. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Hampden County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Two months of hard use, then a long rest
Your air conditioner in Hampden County only works July and August, with afternoons averaging around 80°F. The rest of the year it sits idle, and a unit that sat all that time doesn't always start clean on the first hot day. A capacitor or contactor can fail right when you turn it back on.
Hampden County has also logged 227 damaging wind events and 50 hail events over the past ten years, with hail up to 2 inches. Wind that strong can bend the fins on your outdoor coil or knock the unit off level. Hail that size can dent the cabinet or flatten the coil fins, and either one makes the system work harder to cool the same air.
- 2 months
- July through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 80°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 50 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 227 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 Hampden County, so the repair decision comes down to the unit's condition.
Estimates for a typical Hampden County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Massachusetts 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 reason is a dirty air filter choking off airflow across the coil. When air can't move through, the coil gets too cold and ice can form on it, which cuts cooling further. A low refrigerant charge from a leak causes the same thing, and a failing compressor will blow air that never gets cold at all. Check the filter first, since that's the one thing you can rule out yourself before calling for a repair.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Water around your AC almost always means the condensate drain line is clogged. Algae and dirt build up in that line over a summer of running the unit for hours a day, and once it backs up the water has nowhere to go but out of the drain pan. A dirty air filter can cause the same problem indirectly, by freezing the coil, which then drips water everywhere as it thaws. Either way it's worth having looked at, since standing water near your indoor unit can damage the floor or the unit itself.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with your thermostat. Check that it has power, that the setting is on cool, and that the temperature is actually below room temperature. If the thermostat looks fine, check your breaker panel, since a tripped breaker will shut the whole system down with no warning. Summers here only run July and August, so an AC that sat idle the rest of the year can also fail to start simply because a part seized up from disuse. If power and settings check out and it still won't start, a contractor will need to look at the compressor or the control board.