AC Repair in Newark, NJ
Air conditioners here run from June through August. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Essex County will get in touch.
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Three months of real heat, and the storms in between
Newark air conditioners work hard for a short stretch. June through August, afternoons average 84°F, and the system has to run at that load day after day for those three months. Then it sits idle the rest of the year, which is its own kind of stress on a unit that just spent all summer cycling.
Essex County has also logged 61 damaging wind events over the past ten years, along with hail up to an inch. Wind that strong can rock an outdoor unit or drive debris into the fins and fan, and a homeowner usually finds out the hard way, when the system is straining hardest on one of those 84 degree afternoons and can't keep up.
- 3 months
- June through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 84°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 2 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 61 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 Essex County home.
Estimates for a typical Essex 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.
New Jersey tests contractors before it licenses them, and the license belongs to the contractor, not to any single job. The state board that issues it, the Board of Examiners of Heating, Ventilating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractors, keeps that record. No town in New Jersey can layer its own license on top of it, so the same state license applies whether the work is in Newark or a small township in Essex County.
For an air conditioner repair, the license tells you the contractor was tested and is on record with the state, but the refrigerant work itself falls under a separate rule that applies everywhere in the country. Anyone who opens the refrigerant side of your air conditioner has to hold EPA Section 608 certification, whether they work in New Jersey or anywhere else. That certification is federal, not a state credential, and it exists because refrigerant handling is regulated on its own, apart from any state's contractor license.
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. When that happens the coil inside can ice over, and once it does, the air coming through the vents turns warm even though the system is running. A low refrigerant charge causes the same symptom, and that points to a leak somewhere in the line. A contractor can tell the difference by checking the coil and the pressures, but only someone certified under EPA Section 608 is allowed to open the refrigerant side to fix it.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Cooling your home pulls moisture out of the air, and that water is supposed to drain out through a condensate line. When that line clogs with dust or algae, the water backs up and finds another way out, usually around the indoor unit. A cracked drain pan or a coil that has iced over and then melted can cause the same puddle. Shut the system off if you see water pooling, since running it longer just adds more water with nowhere to go.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. Check that it has power and is set to cool with a temperature below the room. If the thermostat looks fine, check the breaker, since a tripped one will shut the whole system down with no warning. Given how often storms roll through here, with 61 damaging wind events over the past ten years, a breaker trip after bad weather is worth ruling out before assuming something inside the unit has failed.