AC Repair in Sumter, SC
Air conditioners here run from May through September. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Sumter County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Five months of 90-degree afternoons wear an AC down
Your air conditioner runs from May through September here, and on most of those afternoons it is working against 90°F. That kind of stretch means long run times, day after day, with little rest between cycles. The compressor and the fan motor take the brunt of it, and a system that runs that hard for that long tends to show its weak points before the season is over.
Sumter County also sees its share of rough weather. Ten years of records show 182 damaging wind events and 24 hail events, with hail up to 1.75 inches. Wind that strong can knock a condenser out of alignment or drive debris into the coil, and hail that size can dent the fins or the cabinet. If your system is cooling less than it used to, or making noise it did not make before, one of those two things, the long summer runs or the storms, is usually why.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 90°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 24 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 182 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new air conditioner would cut about $60 a year off cooling for a typical Sumter County home.
Estimates for a typical Sumter County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, South Carolina 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 often the filter is clogged and blocking airflow, or the refrigerant level is low from a leak somewhere in the line. A dirty filter also lets the evaporator coil ice over, and once that happens the air coming out turns warm until the ice melts. Check the filter first since it's the one thing you can look at yourself. If it's clean and the air is still warm, the system needs a contractor to check refrigerant and the coil.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- The drain line that carries condensation away is probably clogged. Warm air moving over the evaporator coil pulls moisture out of it constantly, and that water is supposed to run down a small 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 the house instead. A contractor can clear the line and check whether the pan underneath it cracked from sitting full of water.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with the thermostat and the breaker. Reset the thermostat batteries or check its settings first, then check whether the breaker for the outdoor unit has tripped, since a summer storm surge can trip it without anyone noticing. If the breaker holds and the thermostat looks right but the unit still won't run, the capacitor or the contactor inside the outdoor unit has likely failed and needs a contractor to replace it.