AC Repair in Worcester, MA
Air conditioners here run from July through August. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Worcester County will get in touch.
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Two months of real heat, and storms the rest of the year
Worcester County only asks an air conditioner to work July and August. Summer afternoons average 79°F, not the kind of heat that runs a system into the ground. When a unit here fails, it is usually not from being overworked all season. It is from sitting idle most of the year and then getting switched on hard when the first hot week hits.
The county has logged 427 damaging wind events and 62 hail events over the past ten years, with hail up to 1.75 inches. Outdoor condenser units take the brunt of that. Wind drives debris into the coil and the fan blades, and hail can dent the fins or crack the housing. If your AC is blowing warm air or cycling oddly right after a storm, that is worth checking before you assume it is just old age.
- 2 months
- July through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 79°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 62 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 427 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 Worcester County, so the repair decision comes down to the unit's condition.
Estimates for a typical Worcester 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?
- Most of the time the filter is clogged and starving the system of airflow, or the refrigerant level is low from a leak somewhere in the line. A dirty filter makes the evaporator coil freeze over, and once that happens the air coming out turns warm even though the system is running. Low refrigerant needs a contractor to find the leak and fix it, since adding refrigerant without repairing the leak only solves the problem for a while.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- The condensate drain line is probably clogged. Your AC pulls moisture out of the air as it cools your home, and that water is supposed to run out through a drain line to the outside. Algae and dirt build up in that line over time and block it, so the water backs up and drips inside instead. A frozen evaporator coil can cause the same thing once it thaws, so if the system has been running nonstop or the filter is dirty, that is worth checking too.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Check the thermostat first, since dead batteries or a setting bumped off cool will stop the system before it ever starts. If the thermostat looks fine, check the breaker box, since a tripped breaker will cut power to the whole unit. Worcester sees a fair number of damaging wind storms, and outages or power surges from those can trip a breaker or knock out the outdoor unit's capacitor. If the breaker is fine and the thermostat is set right, the problem is likely electrical inside the unit and needs a contractor to diagnose.