AC Repair in Evansville, IN
Air conditioners here run from May through September. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Vanderburgh County will get in touch.
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Five months of Evansville heat, and the storms in between
Your air conditioner runs from May through September here, and on the 87°F afternoons that are normal for an Evansville summer, it does not get much of a break. The condenser fan and compressor run long hours to keep up, and that steady load is what wears them down. When a system that size finally gives out, it is often the compressor, or a capacitor that has weakened from months of heavy cycling.
Vanderburgh County has also seen 103 damaging wind events and 19 hail events over the past ten years, with hail up to 2 inches. Wind can knock the condenser unit out of alignment or drive debris into the coil, and hail that size can bend the fins on the outdoor unit enough to choke off airflow. If your air conditioner started struggling right after a storm, that is worth telling the contractor who comes to look at it.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 87°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 19 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 103 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 Vanderburgh County home.
Estimates for a typical Vanderburgh County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Indiana 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.
In Indiana, HVAC licensing for homes is left to the counties and cities.
Vanderburgh County sets its own rule on who can do HVAC work, since Indiana leaves that to the counties and cities. Whether a contractor needs a local license to repair your air conditioner depends on what Evansville or Vanderburgh County itself requires, not on anything the state tracks. There is no state exam behind the work and no state record of who passed one.
What does apply everywhere, including here, is federal. Repairing an air conditioner means opening the refrigerant side of the system, and any technician who does that has to hold EPA Section 608 certification. That is not a license and it does not test how well someone installs or wires a system. It only certifies that the person handling refrigerant is trained to do it without releasing it into the air.
Sources: Indiana Department of Workforce Development · State of Indiana
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- The most common cause is a dirty air filter choking off airflow across the evaporator coil, which can cause that coil to freeze and stop cooling the air. It can also mean the refrigerant charge is low, usually from a leak somewhere in the line set or coil. A dirty outdoor condenser covered in grass clippings or cottonwood can cause the same problem, since it stops the unit from shedding heat. Check the filter first since that is the one thing you can rule out yourself, and have a contractor look at the rest.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Most of the time this means the condensate drain line is clogged and water is backing up instead of draining outside. Algae and dust build up inside that line over a cooling season and block it. It can also mean the drain pan has rusted through, or the evaporator coil is frozen and dripping as it thaws. Evansville homes run their AC five months a year, May through September, so that drain line gets steady use and is worth having checked if this keeps happening.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. Check that it has power, is set to cool, and the set temperature is below the room temperature. If the thermostat looks fine, check the breaker for the outdoor unit, since a tripped breaker will stop the whole system cold. If the breaker holds and the thermostat is set right, the problem is inside the system and needs a contractor to diagnose it.