AC Maintenance in Riverside, CA
Air conditioners here run from April through October, so March is the time for a tune-up. Tell us about your system, and a licensed contractor who covers Riverside County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Seven months of Riverside heat wears on your AC
Your air conditioner runs April through October here, seven months a year. On afternoons that hit 99°F, it is not cycling on and off. It is running long stretches to keep up, and the compressor and the fan motor take that load every one of those days.
A tune-up checks what that kind of running wears down. Low refrigerant makes the compressor work harder than it should. A dirty condenser coil outside can't shed heat the way it needs to when it's already 99°F out. A tune-up catches these before the system just stops keeping up on the next hot afternoon.
- 7 months
- April through October, your air conditioner is on duty
- 99°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 7 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 409 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Book your AC tune-up in March, before homes here start needing cooling in April.
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
A tune-up checks the refrigerant charge, cleans the coils, tests the capacitor and tightens the electrical connections.
California requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The license is issued to the contractor, not to the job, so it stays with them from one house to the next rather than being pulled for this particular visit. The state has tested that contractor and keeps a record of them through the Contractors State License Board.
For a maintenance visit, that license is what stands behind the person in the driveway. If the work involves opening the refrigerant side of the system to check the charge or the coil, the technician doing it also needs EPA Section 608 certification, which is a federal requirement in every state and separate from the California license.
Sources: California Legislative Counsel · Contractors State License Board
- What does AC maintenance include?
- A technician cleans the condenser coil, checks the refrigerant charge, and tests the capacitor and contactor in the outdoor unit. Inside, they check the evaporator coil and the condensate drain, since a clogged drain is one of the more common reasons a system stops cooling. They also check the thermostat and confirm the system is pulling down the temperature it should. With summer highs around 99°F here, a coil that is coated in dust or a low refrigerant charge shows up fast as weaker cooling on the hot afternoons.
- How often does an air conditioner need maintenance?
- Once a year, before the season it works hardest in. Homes here run their AC from April through October, seven months of the year, so spring is the right time to have it looked at before that stretch starts. A yearly check catches a weak capacitor or a dirty coil before it causes a breakdown in the middle of a 99°F afternoon.
- Is AC maintenance worth it?
- Yes, especially in a place where the system runs seven months out of the year. Maintenance is when a contractor finds a failing capacitor or a coil losing its efficiency before it leaves you without cooling on a 99°F day. It is also a chance to check the outdoor unit for damage, since this area has recorded 409 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and debris thrown against the coil or fan can go unnoticed until the system is struggling.