AC Repair in Lafayette, IN
Air conditioners here run from June through August. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Tippecanoe County will get in touch.
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Three months of hard work, every year
Your air conditioner in Lafayette only gets three months to prove itself, June through August, and it spends those months working against afternoons that average 83°F. That kind of steady heat load keeps the compressor running long hours day after day, and it's the compressor and the capacitor that starts it that tend to wear from that kind of duty.
Tippecanoe County has also logged 83 damaging wind events and 26 hail events over the past ten years, with hail up to 4 inches. Wind can rock the outdoor unit and loosen fan blades or refrigerant lines, and hail that size can dent or crack the condenser coil's fins. You'll notice it as an AC that runs but doesn't cool like it used to, or one that trips off on hot afternoons and won't restart.
- 3 months
- June through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 83°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 26 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 83 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 Tippecanoe County, so the repair decision comes down to the unit's condition.
Estimates for a typical Tippecanoe 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.
Whether a contractor needs a local license to do this work in Tippecanoe County depends on the county or city rule, not on anything Indiana requires statewide. Indiana runs no state exam and keeps no state record of HVAC contractors. What applies here is whatever the local rule says, and that rule is not the same from one address to the next.
For a repair like this, the protection that does apply everywhere is federal. Your air conditioner runs on refrigerant, and any technician who opens that side of the system to fix it has to hold EPA Section 608 certification. That requirement comes from the federal government, not the county, so it holds in Tippecanoe County the same as it does everywhere else.
Sources: Indiana Department of Workforce Development · State of Indiana
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- Most of the time the filter is clogged and starving the system of airflow, so check that first. A dirty filter makes the coil freeze up, and once that happens the air coming out turns warm even though the unit is running fine otherwise. Low refrigerant from a leak causes the same thing, and that's not something you can fix by yourself. If the filter looks clean and the vents are still blowing warm, the system needs a contractor to check the charge and the coil.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Condensate has nowhere to go, usually because the drain line is clogged. Your AC pulls a lot of moisture out of the air, especially through those summer afternoons here, and that water is supposed to run out through a drain line to the outside. Algae and dirt build up in that line over time and block it, so the water backs up and drips or pools near the indoor unit. A frozen coil that's thawing out will do the same thing, so if the system was blowing warm air before you noticed water, that's likely the cause instead.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with the thermostat and the breaker before assuming the worst. Check that the thermostat is set to cool and the temperature is below the room's, and check the breaker for the outdoor unit hasn't tripped. If both look fine, the problem is likely with a part inside the system, like the capacitor or the contactor, and that needs a contractor to test and replace.