AC Repair in Hurricane, WV
Air conditioners here run from June through September. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Putnam County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Four months of real heat, and storms on top of it
Your air conditioner in Hurricane works hard for a short stretch. June through September, with afternoons averaging 85°F, the system runs long hours trying to hold the house steady. That kind of steady demand wears on the compressor and the fan motor, the parts that carry the load hour after hour.
Putnam County has also seen 142 damaging wind events and 35 hail events over the past ten years, with hail up to 3.25 inches. Wind can rock the outdoor unit on its pad or bend the cabinet. Hail that size can dent the fins on the condenser coil, and bent fins block the airflow the system needs to cool the refrigerant. When that happens, the house takes longer to cool, or the air coming out stops feeling cold at all.
- 4 months
- June through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 85°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 35 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 142 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 Putnam County, so the repair decision comes down to the unit's condition.
Estimates for a typical Putnam 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 tests and licenses the contractor as a business, through the Commissioner of Labor, not the individual job. That means the state has checked the company's qualifications before they ever get to your house, and there's a record of who they are if something goes wrong. It doesn't mean an inspector signs off on this particular repair.
For a repair like this, the license tells you the company is accountable to the state. The actual work of opening up the refrigerant lines is covered by a separate federal rule. Any technician who touches the refrigerant side of an air conditioner, in West Virginia or any other state, has to hold EPA Section 608 certification. That's the credential that matters for the hands doing the work, alongside the license that covers the business behind them.
Source: West Virginia Legislature
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- Most of the time the refrigerant charge is low, usually from a leak somewhere in the line set or coil. It can also mean the compressor has failed, or the airflow across the indoor coil is too weak to pull heat out of the air, often from a clogged filter or a coil caked in dust. A contractor needs to check refrigerant pressures and airflow to tell which one it is, and touching the refrigerant side legally requires an EPA 608 certified technician.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- The condensate drain line is probably clogged. Algae and dust build up inside that line over a summer of running the system, and once it blocks, the water backs up and spills out instead of draining outside. A frozen evaporator coil can cause the same thing when it thaws and dumps more water than the drain pan can handle at once.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with the thermostat batteries and the breaker for the outdoor unit, since both are common and easy to check. If those are fine, the problem is likely inside the system, a failed capacitor, a tripped safety switch, or a wiring issue at the contactor. A licensed contractor can test each of these to find which part is stopping the system from starting.