AC Repair in Blacksburg, VA
Air conditioners here run from June through August. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Montgomery County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Three months of work, then months of sitting still
Blacksburg only asks your air conditioner to run June through August, with afternoons averaging 82°F. That short season is hard on a system that spends the rest of the year sitting idle. A capacitor or contactor that has not moved since last summer is often the part that fails on the first real hot day, not the coil that has been running fine all week.
Montgomery County has logged 94 damaging wind events over the last ten years. Wind like that can rattle an outdoor unit, drive debris into the fins, or knock the unit out of level. Hail has hit here too, 11 times in ten years, with stones up to 1 inch, enough to dent fins or crack a fan blade. If your air conditioner ran fine last summer and now the airflow is weak or the outdoor unit is buzzing without cooling, damage from the months it sat unused is a reasonable place to start looking.
- 3 months
- June through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 82°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 11 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 94 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new air conditioner would cut about $30 a year off cooling for a typical Montgomery County home.
Estimates for a typical Montgomery County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Virginia 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.
Virginia requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The Board for Contractors tests the contractor and keeps a record of who holds that license, not a record of each job. In Virginia, that license does not apply to every repair. Work under $1,000 does not need a licensed contractor, so a small AC repair can fall outside the license entirely.
An air conditioner repair usually means someone working on the refrigerant side of your system, and that part is not covered by the state license at all. Anyone who opens the refrigerant lines, anywhere in the country, has to hold EPA Section 608 certification. That is a federal requirement, separate from Virginia's rule, and it applies no matter what the job costs.
Sources: Virginia General Assembly · Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- The most common cause is a dirty air filter choking off airflow, followed by low refrigerant from a leak. A clogged filter makes the coil so cold it can freeze over, and once that happens the air coming out feels warm even though the system is running. Low refrigerant does something similar, since the coil needs the right pressure to pull heat out of the air. Only a licensed technician can open the refrigerant side to check the charge, since that work requires EPA certification.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Your AC makes water constantly while it runs, since pulling humidity out of the air is part of how it cools. That water is supposed to drip into a pan and drain outside through a condensate line. When you see water where it shouldn't be, the line is usually clogged or the pan has cracked or rusted through. A frozen coil can also cause it, because the ice melts and overflows the pan when the system isn't running long enough to keep up.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. Check that it's set to cool and the temperature is below the room's current reading, and change the batteries if the screen is blank or dim. If the thermostat looks fine, check your breaker panel, since a tripped breaker will keep the whole system from starting. If the breaker is fine and the AC still won't turn on, the problem is likely inside the unit and needs a contractor to diagnose.