AC Maintenance in Allentown, PA
Air conditioners here run from June through August, so May is the time for a tune-up. Tell us about your system, and a licensed contractor who covers Lehigh County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Three months of heat, then months of standing still
Your air conditioner works hard from June through August, with summer afternoons here averaging 83°F. That heat pushes the compressor and fan motor to run long hours, day after day, for a short stretch of the year.
Then it sits. For the rest of the year, the unit outside is idle, exposed to whatever the weather does. Lehigh County has seen 211 damaging wind events and 41 hail events over the past ten years, with hail up to 2 inches. Wind can bend the thin fins on the outdoor coil, and hail can dent the cabinet or damage those same fins. A tune-up before the season starts is when a contractor checks the coil, the fan, and the refrigerant charge, so a unit that sat idle all winter is ready for the three months it actually has to work.
- 3 months
- June through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 83°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 41 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 211 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Book your AC tune-up in May, before homes here start needing cooling in June.
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
A tune-up checks the refrigerant charge, cleans the coils, tests the capacitor and tightens the electrical connections.
Pennsylvania requires contractors to register with the state.
Registration puts the business on file with the Bureau of Consumer Protection. Nobody tested this contractor's HVAC knowledge to get that number, and the state does not license the trade at all. Since Pennsylvania cities and towns are barred from requiring their own HVAC license, there is no local licensing check standing in for it either. That registration is the only state record that exists here.
For maintenance on your air conditioner, the check that actually applies is federal. Anyone who opens the refrigerant side of your system to service it has to hold EPA Section 608 certification, and that rule holds in every state, Pennsylvania included. It is not a license and it does not cover the visit the way a state exam would. It just means the person handling the refrigerant was tested on that one thing.
Source: Pennsylvania General Assembly
- What does AC maintenance include?
- A technician checks refrigerant pressure, cleans the condenser coil, and tests the capacitor and contactor in the outdoor unit. Indoors they check the evaporator coil and the blower, and they'll replace or clean your filter if it needs it. They also check the condensate drain, since a clogged one can back up and shut the system down or damage the ceiling below it. Part of the visit is just running the system and watching how it responds, because a reading on its own doesn't tell you much.
- How often does an air conditioner need maintenance?
- Once a year, in spring before the heat sets in. Your system only runs June through August here, but the coil and capacitor still age whether it's running or not, so a yearly check catches wear before the first hot week finds it.
- Is AC maintenance worth it?
- Yes, because most of what fails in an air conditioner fails slowly, and a technician can catch it before it fails all at once on a hot afternoon. A weak capacitor or a dirty coil doesn't announce itself until the system stops cooling, and by then you're calling for a repair instead of a checkup. It's also the one time a year someone actually looks at the drain line and the electrical connections, which most homeowners never check themselves.