AC Repair in Cortez, CO
Air conditioners here run from July through August. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Montezuma County will get in touch.
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Two months of hard running, then nothing until next summer
Cortez only asks for air conditioning in July and August. Afternoons average 84°F, so for those two months your AC runs hard and steady, then sits idle the rest of the year.
That idle stretch is when trouble sets in. A unit that sat through fall, winter, and spring without running can have a stuck contactor or a capacitor that weakened while the system wasn't calling for cooling. You find out the first hot afternoon in July, when you turn it on and it either doesn't start or blows warm air. Montezuma County has also logged 22 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and wind like that can knock an outdoor unit out of alignment or drive debris into the coil, so it's worth a look at the condenser itself if your AC has been acting up since the last big storm.
- 2 months
- July through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 84°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 3 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 22 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 Montezuma County, so the repair decision comes down to the unit's condition.
Estimates for a typical Montezuma 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 across the coil. Low refrigerant from a leak will also do it, and so will a compressor that has failed. A contractor can check the refrigerant charge and the airflow to find which one it is.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Most of the time this is a clogged condensate drain line. As your AC pulls moisture out of the air, that water is supposed to run out through the drain line, and algae or dirt can block it so the water backs up and drips inside instead. A cracked drain pan or a frozen coil that later thaws can also cause it. Shut the system off until a contractor clears the line or finds the source, since standing water near the unit can lead to more damage.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with the thermostat and the breaker. Dead batteries or a wrong setting on the thermostat will keep the signal from ever reaching the system, and a tripped breaker cuts power to it entirely. This area sees a fair number of damaging wind events, so a breaker tripped during a storm is worth checking first. If both check out, the problem is likely electrical inside the unit itself, and a contractor will need to look at it.