AC Repair in Palm Bay, FL
Air conditioners here run from March through December. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Brevard County will get in touch.
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Ten months of cooling wears an AC down fast in Palm Bay
Your air conditioner runs from March through December here, ten months a year. On afternoons that average 90°F, it is not cycling on and off, it is running long stretches just to keep up. That kind of runtime adds up on the compressor and the fan motor faster than it would somewhere the unit gets a real break.
Brevard County has logged 99 damaging wind events and 50 hail events over the past ten years, with hail up to 2 inches. Wind drives debris into the outdoor unit's coil and fan, and hail can bend the fins or dent the housing. If your outside unit is running rough, blowing warm air, or making a new noise after a storm, that is usually where to look first.
- 10 months
- March through December, your air conditioner is on duty
- 90°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 50 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 99 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new air conditioner would cut about $80 a year off cooling for a typical Brevard County home.
Estimates for a typical Brevard County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Florida 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.
Florida requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The license is tied to the person or business named on it, not issued fresh for each repair. The Construction Industry Licensing Board tested that contractor and keeps a record of them, and that record covers whoever they send to your house, not just the one job on your air conditioner.
For this repair, the license is what stands behind the work. Since the job involves refrigerant, the technician also has to hold EPA Section 608 certification, which is federal and applies no matter what state you're in. That's a separate credential from the license. It says the technician is qualified to handle refrigerant without venting it, not that the state has vetted the business.
Sources: Florida Legislature · Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- The most common cause is a dirty air filter choking off airflow, so check that first. A refrigerant leak will also do this, and it will not fix itself since the system does not use up refrigerant, it just loses what it has through a leak somewhere in the lines or coil. The outdoor unit can be part of the problem too. With cooling running most of the year here, dirt and grass clippings build up on the condenser coil and block it from releasing heat, which leaves warm air blowing inside. A licensed contractor can find which of these it is and fix it.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Most of the time this is a clogged condensate drain line. Your AC pulls moisture out of the air and that water is supposed to drain outside through a small pipe, and algae or dirt can block that pipe until the water backs up and drips inside instead. A frozen evaporator coil causes the same thing when it thaws, and a coil freezes when airflow is restricted, often from a dirty filter. Either way, water pooling near the indoor unit means something needs attention before it damages the floor or the unit itself.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. Check that it has power, the batteries are good if it uses them, and it is set to cool at a temperature below the room. If the thermostat looks fine, check the breaker panel, since a tripped breaker will shut the whole system down. Palm Bay sees frequent thunderstorms and wind, and a power surge or outage can trip a breaker or, on some systems, require someone to flip the switch back on at the outdoor unit. If the breaker is fine and the thermostat is calling for cooling but nothing happens, the problem is inside the system and a licensed contractor will need to diagnose it.