AC Repair in La Plata, MD
Air conditioners here run from June through September. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Charles County will get in touch.
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Four months of hard running in La Plata heat
Your air conditioner works June through September here, and on afternoons that average 86°F it runs long and often to keep up. That kind of steady demand puts real hours on the compressor and the fan motor, the parts that carry the load every time the system runs.
Charles County has also logged 188 damaging wind events and 26 hail storms over the past ten years, with hailstones up to 2.75 inches. The outdoor unit sits outside through all of that, and hail can bend the thin fins on the condenser coil or damage the fan. If your system is blowing warm air or running weaker than it used to after a storm, that outdoor unit is worth a look.
- 4 months
- June through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 86°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 26 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 188 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 Charles County home.
Estimates for a typical Charles County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Maryland 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.
Maryland requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
Maryland tests contractors before it licenses them, and the Board of Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Contractors keeps a record of who holds one. That license belongs to the contractor, not to any single job. The same license covering a new install also covers a service call on your air conditioner.
For a repair job like this, the refrigerant side is what matters most. Any technician who opens it to check a charge or fix a leak has to hold EPA Section 608 certification. That rule is federal, so it applies in Maryland the same as it does everywhere else. On this job the state license backs the contractor, and the federal certification backs whoever actually touches the refrigerant.
Sources: Maryland General Assembly · Maryland Department of Labor
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- Most often it is low refrigerant from a leak, a dirty air filter choking airflow, or a coil that has frozen over. A frozen coil needs time to thaw before a contractor can tell what caused it. Refrigerant work has to be done by someone with EPA Section 608 certification, since that means opening the refrigerant side of the system, so this is not a repair to handle yourself.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- The condensate drain line is probably clogged, backing water up until it overflows the pan. It can also mean the drain pan itself has rusted through, or the coil has frozen and is now melting and shedding more water than the pan can catch. A clogged line is a quick fix, but a cracked pan means replacing the part.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. Check that it is set to cool and the temperature is actually below room temperature, and swap the batteries if it has a blank screen. If the thermostat looks fine, check the breaker box, since a tripped breaker will shut the whole system down. When neither of those is the problem, the issue is likely inside the unit and worth having a licensed contractor look at.