AC Repair in Saratoga Springs, NY
Air conditioners here run from July through August. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Saratoga County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Two months of real heat, then long stretches of quiet
Your air conditioner only earns its keep from July through August here. Summer afternoons average 79°F, warm enough to run the compressor hard on the days it's asked to work, then it sits idle the rest of the year.
That off season is its own problem. A compressor that sat unused for ten months doesn't always start clean when the first hot week hits. Saratoga County has also logged 399 damaging wind events and 52 hail events over the past ten years, with hail up to 1.75 inches. Wind can rock an outdoor unit or bend the fins that let it shed heat, and hail that size dents the cabinet and the coil behind it. If your AC is struggling to keep up or won't start at all, it may be less about the heat and more about what happened to it while it sat quiet.
- 2 months
- July through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 79°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 52 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 399 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 Saratoga County, so the repair decision comes down to the unit's condition.
Estimates for a typical Saratoga County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, New York 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 starving the system of airflow, or the refrigerant level is low from a leak somewhere in the line. A dirty outdoor coil can do the same thing, since it stops the unit from shedding heat properly. Check the filter first since that's the one thing you can rule out yourself. If it's clean and the air is still warm, the system needs a contractor to check refrigerant levels and look for a leak.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Water around your unit usually means the condensate drain line is clogged, so water backs up and overflows instead of draining outside. It can also mean the evaporator coil has frozen over and is now melting and dripping as the system runs. A frozen coil is often caused by low airflow, so check the filter as well. Either way, a contractor should clear the line or find why the coil froze before it damages the floor or the unit itself.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. Make sure it's set to cool and below the room temperature, and check the batteries if it has a screen that looks dim or blank. If the thermostat looks fine, check your breaker panel, since a tripped breaker will keep the whole system from starting. With 399 damaging wind events recorded here over the past ten years, a tripped breaker after a storm is common. If the breaker won't stay reset, don't keep flipping it. Call a contractor to find out why it's tripping.