AC Repair in Follansbee, WV
Air conditioners here run from June through August. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Brooke County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Three months of hard running, then it stops
Your air conditioner in Follansbee gets three months of real work, June through August, with afternoons averaging 82°F. It runs hard for a short stretch instead of easing into the season, and that pushes the compressor and the run capacitor that helps start it.
Brooke County has also seen 38 damaging wind events and 6 hail events over the past ten years, with hail up to 2 inches. Wind can knock debris into the outdoor unit's fan and coil, and hail that size can bend the fins on the coil itself. When that happens, the unit struggles to release heat and you notice the house not cooling like it should, even with the thermostat set low.
- 3 months
- June through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 82°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 6 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 38 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 Brooke County, so the repair decision comes down to the unit's condition.
Estimates for a typical Brooke County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, West Virginia 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.
West Virginia requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
West Virginia's Commissioner of Labor issues the license and keeps the record of who holds one. The state tested the contractor before granting it, and the license belongs to that contractor, not to any single job they take on. That is different from a business simply being registered somewhere. Here, someone checked.
For a repair on your air conditioner, that license is what stands behind the person doing the work. If the job means opening the refrigerant side of your system, which most air conditioner repairs do, the technician also has to hold EPA Section 608 certification. That one comes from federal law and applies in every state, not just here. Between the two, you have a state record of who this contractor is and a federal check on who is allowed to handle the refrigerant itself.
Source: West Virginia Legislature
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- Most of the time the filter is clogged and starving the system of airflow, so check that first. A dirty filter chokes airflow so badly the evaporator coil can freeze over, and once that happens you get warm air or none at all until it thaws. Low refrigerant from a leak causes the same warm air problem, but only a licensed contractor can open the refrigerant side to check it, that part of the job is federally regulated. If the filter is clean and the air is still warm, the compressor itself may not be running even though the fan is.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Water around your unit almost always means the condensate drain line is clogged. Algae and dirt build up in that line over a cooling season and block the water that the coil pulls out of the air, so it backs up and drips out wherever it can. A frozen evaporator coil will also drip water once it thaws, usually from a dirty filter or low airflow. Either way the fix is straightforward for a contractor to clear or repair.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with the thermostat and the breaker before assuming the worst. Check that the thermostat is set to cool and below room temperature, and check the breaker for your outdoor unit hasn't tripped. A capacitor that has failed will also keep the compressor or fan from starting even though the system has power, and that's a common reason a unit goes quiet without any warning. If both of those check out and it still won't start, a contractor will need to look at what's keeping it from getting power through to the compressor.