AC Maintenance in Kankakee, IL
Air conditioners here run from June through August, so May is the time for a tune-up. Tell us about your system, and a licensed contractor who covers Kankakee County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Three months of hard running, then storm season
Your air conditioner in Kankakee County works one real stretch a year, June through August, with afternoons averaging 83°F. A tune-up before that stretch checks the refrigerant charge, cleans the outdoor coil, and tests the capacitor and contactor, the parts most likely to give out under summer load.
The outdoor unit also sits through what the weather brings the rest of the year. Kankakee County has recorded 21 hail events and 99 damaging wind events over the past ten years, with hail as large as 2.5 inches. A service visit is a chance to look over the coil and the cabinet for damage from the last storm before it turns into a bigger problem in the next one.
- 3 months
- June through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 83°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 21 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 99 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
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
A tune-up checks the refrigerant charge, cleans the coils, tests the capacitor and tightens the electrical connections.
In Illinois, HVAC licensing for homes is left to the cities and towns.
Illinois does not license HVAC contractors at the state level. Whether one is required here comes down to whatever Kankakee County or the town the house sits in has decided on its own, and that rule is not part of what the state tracks. There is no state test behind the work and no state record of who passed one.
For maintenance on an air conditioner, the protection that holds regardless of local rule is federal. Checking the charge or working on the coil means opening the refrigerant side of the system, and that requires EPA Section 608 certification. That one applies to the technician everywhere in the country, no matter what the city or town does or does not require.
Source: Illinois General Assembly
- What does AC maintenance include?
- A technician checks refrigerant levels, cleans the condenser coil, and tests the capacitor and contactor in the outdoor unit. Inside, they check the evaporator coil and the condensate drain, since a clogged drain can back up and cause water damage. They also check the thermostat calibration and look over the electrical connections, since loose wiring is a common cause of a system that trips off on hot days.
- How often does an air conditioner need maintenance?
- Once a year, before the cooling season starts. Here that means getting it done before June, so the system is ready when the heat sets in through August. A yearly check catches a weak capacitor or a dirty coil before it causes a breakdown on the hottest afternoon of the year.
- Is AC maintenance worth it?
- Yes, because most of the failures that leave a house without cooling are things a technician can catch ahead of time. A capacitor that is starting to weaken, a coil coated in dust, a drain line about to clog, these show up in a check before they turn into a system that will not start. With only three months of real cooling weather here, and summer afternoons averaging 83°F, a breakdown in the middle of it means going without relief when the heat is at its worst.