AC Repair in San Luis Obispo, CA
Air conditioners here run from June through September. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers San Luis Obispo County will get in touch.
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Four months of heat, every summer
San Luis Obispo only asks a lot of your air conditioner for part of the year, but June through September it runs hard. Afternoon highs average 87°F, and on those days the system cycles for hours trying to hold the house steady.
That kind of steady demand wears on the compressor and the fan motor, the parts doing the work while the unit runs. When one starts to give out, you notice the air isn't as cold as it should be, or the unit runs longer than it used to without catching up.
- 4 months
- June through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 87°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 1 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 27 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new air conditioner would cut about $40 a year off cooling for a typical San Luis Obispo County home.
Estimates for a typical San Luis Obispo County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, California 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.
California requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The license is issued to the contractor, not to this particular job, so it goes with them from house to house rather than being something pulled for a single repair. The Contractors State License Board tests and records who holds one, and that record is what backs the person coming to your house.
For an air conditioner repair, that license is what stands behind the work itself. If the repair opens the refrigerant side of the system, the technician also needs EPA Section 608 certification, which every technician in the country must hold to work on that part of any system, in any state.
Sources: California Legislative Counsel · Contractors State License Board
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- The most common cause is low refrigerant from a leak somewhere in the line set or coil. A dirty air filter can also choke off airflow across the evaporator coil until it freezes over and stops cooling. If the outdoor unit isn't running at all while the indoor fan blows, the compressor or a capacitor may have failed. A licensed contractor can check refrigerant levels and test the electrical components to find which one it is.
- 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 in that line over a cooling season and block it. A frozen evaporator coil that then thaws can also dump more water than the drain pan was built to catch. Shut the system off if you see water pooling near the indoor unit, since running it while frozen only adds to the mess.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. Check that it's set to cool, the temperature is below room temperature, and the batteries aren't dead. If the thermostat looks fine, check the breaker, since a tripped breaker will cut power to the whole system. San Luis Obispo has had 27 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and outages from storms like those are a common reason a system won't restart on its own. If power is on and the thermostat is set right but nothing happens, the issue is likely inside the unit and needs a contractor to diagnose.