AC Repair in Erie, PA
Air conditioners here run from July through August. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Erie County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Two months of real heat, then it sits idle
Your air conditioner only earns its keep in July and August here, with afternoons averaging 78°F. That is not the kind of heat that runs a compressor into the ground. But it does mean the unit sits unused most months of the year, and a system that sits that long can develop problems you only find out about on the first hot day you need it.
Erie County also gets weather that has nothing to do with heat. The area has logged 128 damaging wind events and 25 hail events over the past ten years, with hail up to 2 inches across. That kind of storm can bend the fins on your outdoor unit or crack the fan blade, and you may not notice until you turn the system on and it is not cooling like it should.
- 2 months
- July through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 78°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 25 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 128 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 Erie County, so the repair decision comes down to the unit's condition.
Estimates for a typical Erie County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Pennsylvania 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.
Pennsylvania requires contractors to register with the state.
That registration puts the business on file with the state and nothing more. Nobody tested this contractor's trade knowledge to get that number, and Pennsylvania does not license HVAC contractors the way some states do. Cities and towns in Pennsylvania cannot layer their own HVAC license on top of that either, so the registration is the only state-level record that exists here.
For a repair like this one, the protection that actually reaches the work is federal. Anyone opening the refrigerant side of your air conditioner has to hold EPA Section 608 certification, and that rule applies in every state regardless of what Pennsylvania does or does not license. That certification is what says a technician was tested on handling refrigerant safely and legally, not the state registration.
Source: Pennsylvania General Assembly
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- The most common cause is a dirty air filter choking off airflow, so start there. A clogged filter starves the coil of air and can cause it to ice over, which cuts cooling even more. Low refrigerant from a leak is another common cause, and that's not something you can fix yourself. If the filter looks clean and air still isn't cold, a contractor needs to check the refrigerant charge and the coil.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Water around your unit usually means the condensate drain line is clogged. Your AC pulls moisture out of the air as it cools your home, and that water is supposed to run out through the drain line. Algae and dirt build up in that line over time and block it, so the water backs up and drips out where you can see it. A dirty air filter can also cause the coil to ice over, and when that ice melts it can look like a leak too.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Check your thermostat first, since a dead battery or a setting that got bumped stops the whole system before it starts. If the thermostat looks right, check your breaker panel, since a tripped breaker will keep the unit from powering on at all. If power and settings both check out and it still won't start, a contractor needs to look at the unit itself.