AC Repair in West Palm Beach, FL
If your air conditioner quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Palm Beach County will get in touch.
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Your AC runs all year here, and that never lets up
In West Palm Beach your air conditioner does not get a season off. It runs 12 months a year, and on summer afternoons that average 91°F, it runs long and hard to keep up. That kind of steady demand wears on the compressor and the capacitor that helps start it, since those parts carry the load every time the system cycles on, all year long.
The storms here add to it. Palm Beach County has logged 95 damaging wind events and 48 hail events over the past ten years, with hail up to 2 inches recorded. Wind can knock the outdoor unit's fan out of balance or drive debris into the coil, and hail that size can dent the fins or the cabinet. When that happens, you will likely notice the system struggling to cool on the next hot afternoon, or the outdoor unit running louder than it used to.
- 91°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 48 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 95 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new air conditioner would cut about $90 a year off cooling for a typical Palm Beach County home.
Estimates for a typical Palm Beach 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 comes from the state's Construction Industry Licensing Board, and it was tested before it was issued. It covers the contractor, not the individual job, so it stands behind whoever shows up at your door rather than being renewed or checked machine by machine.
For a repair on your air conditioner, that license is the thing accountable for the work. If the repair involves opening the refrigerant side of the system, whoever does that also has to hold EPA Section 608 certification, a federal requirement that applies in every state on top of Florida's license.
Sources: Florida Legislature · Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- Most of the time the filter is clogged and starving the system of airflow, or the refrigerant level is low from a leak. A dirty filter makes the coil freeze up, and once that happens you get warm air or no air at all until the ice melts. Running your AC nearly year round here means that filter loads up faster than it would somewhere with a short cooling season, so check it first. If it's clean and you're still getting warm air, a contractor needs to check the refrigerant charge and the compressor.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Water around your unit usually means the condensate drain line is clogged. Algae and dirt build up inside that line over time, and once it backs up the water has nowhere to go but out of the pan or down through your ceiling. A frozen coil that's thawing out will do the same thing, dripping long after the system shuts off. Either way, a contractor needs to clear the line or find out why the coil froze in the first place.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with your thermostat's batteries and settings, since a dead thermostat won't call for cooling at all. If that's fine, check your breaker panel, since a tripped breaker will shut the whole system down. Storms roll through this area often, and both wind and power surges can trip a breaker or damage the outdoor unit's controls. If the breaker resets and trips again, or the thermostat has power but nothing happens, a contractor needs to look at the system itself.