AC Repair in Atlantic City, NJ
Air conditioners here run from June through September. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Atlantic County will get in touch.
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Four humid months are hard on a system that sits idle the rest of the year
Your AC works a short, hard season here, June through September, with afternoons averaging 84°F. It runs long hours to keep up, then sits unused most of the year. That kind of stop and start wears on capacitors and contactors, the parts that get the compressor going each time it cycles on.
Atlantic County also sees its share of rough weather. Ten years of storm records show 106 damaging wind events and 9 hail events in the area. Wind can knock debris into the outdoor unit or rattle it loose from its pad. Hail can dent the fins on the coil outside, and once those fins are bent, the unit can't shed heat the way it should. If your air conditioner is blowing warm or struggling to keep the house cool after a storm, that outdoor unit is worth a look.
- 4 months
- June through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 84°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 9 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 106 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new air conditioner would cut about $30 a year off cooling for a typical Atlantic County home.
Estimates for a typical Atlantic County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, New Jersey 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.
New Jersey requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The license comes from the State Board of Examiners of Heating, Ventilating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractors, and it covers the contractor, not the individual job. Towns and cities in New Jersey cannot require their own HVAC license on top of it, so the state board is the one record that applies no matter where in Atlantic County the work is done.
For a repair on your air conditioner, that state license is what stands behind the person doing the work. If the job means opening the refrigerant side of your system, the technician also needs EPA Section 608 certification, which is a federal requirement in every state and separate from the New Jersey license. The license accounts for who is allowed to do HVAC work in New Jersey. The certification accounts for who is allowed to handle the refrigerant itself.
Sources: New Jersey Legislature · New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs
- 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 charge is low from a leak. A dirty filter makes the coil work harder until it freezes over, and once that happens you get warm air or none at all until it thaws. Low refrigerant needs a licensed contractor, since only someone with EPA Section 608 certification can open that side of the system. Check the filter first. If it's clean and the air is still warm, the system needs a real diagnosis.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Your condensate drain line is probably clogged. Air conditioners pull moisture out of the air as they cool it, and that water is supposed to run out through a drain line to the outside. Algae and debris build up in that line over a summer of running, and once it backs up the water has nowhere to go but out of the unit. A frozen coil that's thawing will do the same thing, so if the system was also blowing warm air before the leak started, that's likely the real cause.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. Check that it's set to cool and the temperature is actually below the room temperature, and if it runs on batteries, try fresh ones. If the thermostat looks right, check the breaker box, since a tripped breaker will shut the whole system down with no warning. If the breaker keeps tripping once you reset it, stop resetting it and have a contractor look at it, because that usually means something in the system is drawing too much current.