AC Repair in Colorado Springs, CO
Air conditioners here run from July through August. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers El Paso County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Two months of heavy work, plus whatever the sky does the rest of the year
Your air conditioner only has to earn its keep in July and August here, with afternoons averaging 83°F. That is not a long season, but it is a hard one, and a unit that sits idle most of the year can be slow to prove it still works when you need it.
The bigger threat sits outside on the pad. El Paso County has logged 717 hail events over the past ten years, with stones up to 4 inches, and 324 damaging wind events in that same stretch. Hail bends the thin aluminum fins on the outdoor coil, and a bent coil cannot shed heat the way it should. Wind drives debris into the cabinet and can rock the unit on its mounts. You notice it as warm air blowing where cold used to, or a system that runs and runs without catching up.
- 2 months
- July through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 83°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 717 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 324 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 El Paso County, so the repair decision comes down to the unit's condition.
Estimates for a typical El Paso County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Colorado 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.
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- The most common cause is a dirty air filter choking off airflow, so start there before anything else. A clogged filter starves the coil of air, and the coil can ice over, which cuts cooling further. Low refrigerant from a leak is another common cause, and that needs a contractor to find and fix, since refrigerant does not run low on its own. If the outdoor unit isn't running at all while the indoor blower is, the compressor or a capacitor may have failed.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Water around your indoor unit usually means the condensate drain line is clogged. Algae and dirt build up in that line over time and block the path the water is supposed to take outside, so it backs up and spills out near the unit instead. A dirty air filter can also cause this indirectly, since it leads to a frozen coil that then melts and overflows the drain pan. If the drain line looks clear, the pan itself may have rusted through or cracked, and that's a part a contractor will need to replace.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Check the thermostat first. Make sure it's set to cool and set below the room temperature, and check the batteries if it has a screen that looks dim or blank. If the thermostat looks fine, check your breaker panel, since a tripped breaker will keep the whole system from starting. If the breaker trips again as soon as you reset it, stop resetting it and have a contractor look at the system, since that points to an electrical fault rather than a one-time trip.