AC Repair in Tahlequah, OK
Air conditioners here run from May through September. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Cherokee County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Five months of Oklahoma heat, every year
Your air conditioner works May through September here, with afternoons in Tahlequah averaging 90°F. That is five straight months of the compressor cycling on and off to keep the house at temperature, day after day with little chance to rest. A unit with a weak capacitor or a struggling compressor tends to show it during this stretch, when the heat doesn't let up.
Cherokee County has also seen 38 hail events and 58 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and the outdoor unit sits outside through all of it. Hail can bend the fins on the coil, and wind can pull debris into the fan or dent the cabinet. Sometimes you notice right after a storm. Sometimes it shows up later, as air that isn't as cold as it used to be.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 90°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 38 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 58 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new air conditioner would cut about $40 a year off cooling for a typical Cherokee County home.
Estimates for a typical Cherokee County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Oklahoma 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.
Oklahoma requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The Construction Industries Board issues that license to the contractor, not to each job, so the same license covers this repair and whatever job comes after it in another house.
Because this job means opening the refrigerant side of the air conditioner, the technician also needs EPA Section 608 certification. That is a federal requirement, the same in every state, separate from the Oklahoma license. The certification says the technician is trained to handle refrigerant without releasing it into the air.
Source: Oklahoma State Legislature
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- Most of the time the filter is clogged and starving the system of airflow. A dirty filter makes the coil freeze up, and once that happens the air coming out of your vents turns warm even though the unit is running. Low refrigerant from a leak causes the same thing. A contractor can check the filter first, then look at the coil and refrigerant charge if that is not the problem.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- The drain line that carries condensation away from your indoor unit is probably clogged. That line collects algae and dirt over time, and once it backs up the water has nowhere to go but out onto your floor or ceiling. A frozen coil that is now thawing will also drip more water than the drain pan can handle. Either way, the fix means clearing the line or finding why the coil froze in the first place.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Check your thermostat batteries and your breaker panel first, since both are common reasons a unit stays dead. If the breaker keeps tripping, something inside the unit is drawing too much power and it needs a contractor to look at it before you reset it again. With 58 damaging wind events here over the past ten years, a tripped breaker after a storm is also worth checking before you assume the unit itself has failed.