AC Maintenance in Burlington, NJ
Air conditioners here run from June through September, so May is the time for a tune-up. Tell us about your system, and a licensed contractor who covers Burlington County will get in touch.
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Four months of hard running in Burlington County heat
Your air conditioner has June through September to do its job, and it runs hard through all of it. Summer afternoons here average 85°F, and the system has to hold that back for four straight months. A unit that only works part of the year still needs to be ready the day it turns hot.
Burlington County has also seen its share of rough weather, with 57 hail events and 405 damaging wind events recorded over the past ten years. A storm doesn't have to hit the unit directly to leave the coil dirty or the cabinet dented enough to affect airflow. A tune-up checks the refrigerant charge, cleans the coil, and looks over the electrical connections before the next stretch of hot afternoons puts it all to the test.
- 4 months
- June through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 85°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 57 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 405 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Book your AC tune-up in May, before homes here start needing cooling in June.
- Jan
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A tune-up checks the refrigerant charge, cleans the coils, tests the capacitor and tightens the electrical connections.
New Jersey requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The license is held by the contractor, not issued job by job, so the same license that qualifies a company to install a system is what qualifies it to maintain your air conditioner. Because the state handles this, Burlington County and any town in it cannot add their own HVAC license on top of it.
Maintenance on an air conditioner usually means checking refrigerant levels and pressures, and any technician who opens that side of the system needs EPA Section 608 certification, which applies everywhere in the country and is separate from the state license. On this job, that federal certification and the New Jersey contractor license are the two things standing behind the work.
Sources: New Jersey Legislature · New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs
- What does AC maintenance include?
- A technician cleans the condenser coil, checks the refrigerant charge, and tests the capacitor and contactor in the outdoor unit. Inside, they check the evaporator coil and the condensate drain, since a clogged drain is one of the more common causes of a system shutting itself off. They also check the thermostat and confirm the system is pulling down temperature the way it should. Anyone opening the refrigerant side of your system has to hold EPA Section 608 certification, so this isn't work to leave to guesswork.
- How often does an air conditioner need maintenance?
- Once a year is enough for most systems, ideally before summer starts. Here, that means getting it done before June, since your air conditioner will be running steadily from June through September. Summer afternoons averaging 85°F put real load on a system, and a coil that's dirty or a charge that's low going into that stretch means the unit works harder for four straight months instead of one.
- Is AC maintenance worth it?
- Yes, mainly because it catches small problems before they become breakdowns. A weak capacitor or a coil losing airflow tends to get worse under load, and load is exactly what your system sees all summer once it's running daily. Regular maintenance also keeps a unit running the way it was designed to, which matters most in the months it can't take a day off.