AC Repair in Virginia Beach, VA
Air conditioners here run from May through September. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Virginia Beach will get in touch.
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Five months of heat and storms wear on your AC
Your air conditioner runs from May through September here, with summer afternoons averaging 85°F. That is five months of steady work for the compressor and the fan motor, day after day, with little break between. By the time September comes, parts that started the season fine have had months of running time on them, and that is when a struggling compressor or a weak fan motor tends to show itself.
Virginia Beach has also logged 72 damaging wind events and 9 hail storms over the past ten years, with hail up to 1.75 inches. The outdoor unit sits outside through all of it. Wind-blown debris can bend the fins on the condenser coil, and hail that size can dent the cabinet or damage the fan blade. If your AC started acting up right after a storm, that is worth telling the contractor who comes to look at it.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 85°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 9 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 72 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new air conditioner would cut about $50 a year off cooling for a typical Virginia Beach home.
Estimates for a typical Virginia Beach 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.
Virginia's Board for Contractors tests and records the contractor, not each job. The license stays with the company across every repair it does. Virginia also sets a line at $1,000. Work under that does not need a licensed contractor, so on a small repair the license is not guaranteed the way it would be on a full system replacement.
An air conditioner repair usually means opening the refrigerant side of the system. That falls under a separate federal rule. Any technician who opens that part of the unit has to hold EPA Section 608 certification, no matter what state they work in. On this job the state license covers the company, and the federal certification covers the person actually handling the refrigerant.
Sources: Virginia General Assembly · Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- Most of the time it is a dirty filter or a coil that has iced over from restricted airflow. Warm summer days here push a system hard, and once ice builds on the coil, all it can do is push air past it rather than through cold air. Low refrigerant from a leak causes the same thing. A contractor can tell you which one it is, but if the filter looks gray or clogged, start there.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- The drain line that carries condensation away is probably clogged. Algae and dirt build up in that line over a cooling season and back the water up until it spills out instead of draining outside. A frozen coil that then thaws will also flood the pan faster than the drain can keep up. Either way, the system should be shut off until the drain is cleared, since water sitting near the electrical parts is its own problem.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Check the thermostat first. Dead batteries or a setting bumped off cool will stop the system before it ever gets a call to run. If the thermostat looks fine, a tripped breaker or a blown fuse at the outdoor unit is the next likely cause. Anything past that, like a bad capacitor or a control board, needs a contractor to open the unit and test it.