AC Repair in Lancaster, PA
Air conditioners here run from June through August. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Lancaster County will get in touch.
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Three months to do all its work
Your air conditioner in Lancaster County works June through August, and that's it. Summer afternoons average 84°F, so those three months ask a lot in a short window. The compressor and capacitor run long hours with little rest between cycles, and that steady load is what wears them down.
Lancaster County has also logged 31 hail events and 215 damaging wind events over the past ten years, with hail up to 1.5 inches. That's enough to bend the fins on an outdoor coil or knock the unit out of alignment, so it's worth having the condenser checked after a bad storm, not just at the start of the season.
- 3 months
- June through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 84°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 31 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 215 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new air conditioner would cut about $30 a year off cooling for a typical Lancaster County home.
Estimates for a typical Lancaster 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 Bureau of Consumer Protection. Nobody tested the contractor's HVAC knowledge to get it, and there's no license behind it, just a record that the business exists and registered like the state asks. Lancaster County and every other municipality in Pennsylvania are barred from layering on their own HVAC license, so this registration is the only state-level record you'll find on a contractor here.
For a repair on your air conditioner, the protection that matters most isn't the registration. Any technician who touches the refrigerant side of your system, which a repair like this usually involves, has to hold EPA Section 608 certification. That's a federal requirement in every state, not a Pennsylvania rule, and it exists because refrigerant work is the part of the job that can go wrong in ways a homeowner can't see or undo.
Source: Pennsylvania General Assembly
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- The most common cause is a dirty air filter choking off airflow across the coil, which can cause the coil to freeze over and stop cooling the air that passes through it. Low refrigerant from a leak is another common cause, and it will not fix itself by adding more since the leak has to be found and sealed first. A dirty outdoor coil can also keep the system from shedding heat properly, especially after months of pollen and debris building up on it. A contractor can check the filter, the coil, and the refrigerant charge to find which one it is.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Most water on the floor near your air handler comes from a clogged condensate drain line. As the system runs, it pulls moisture out of the air and that water has to drain out through a small tube. When the line clogs with algae or debris, the water backs up and spills out of the pan instead. A frozen coil that then thaws can cause the same kind of leak, so a contractor will check both the drain line and the coil to find the source.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with the thermostat batteries and the breaker for the outdoor unit, since both are easy to overlook and both will stop the system cold. If the breaker keeps tripping, don't keep resetting it, since that usually points to a problem with the compressor or wiring that needs a contractor to look at. Lancaster sees its share of damaging wind and hail, and a storm can knock out power to the outdoor unit or damage its wiring even if the indoor thermostat looks fine. If the thermostat has power and the breaker is fine, the problem is likely inside the unit itself and worth having checked before the next hot stretch.