AC Repair in Granite City, IL
Air conditioners here run from May through September. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Madison County will get in touch.
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Five months of Granite City heat, plus what the storms leave behind
Your air conditioner works from May through September here, with summer afternoons averaging 86°F. That is five straight months of the compressor cycling on through the heat of the day, and units run longest on the afternoons that push past that average.
Madison County has also seen 40 hail events and 86 damaging wind events over the past ten years, with hail up to 3.75 inches recorded. The outdoor unit sits outside through all of it. Hail bends the thin aluminum fins on the condenser coil, and a bent coil can't shed heat the way it should. Wind carries branches and debris into the fan and coil too. If your system is cooling less than it used to, or the outdoor unit looks dented or is making a new noise, that kind of damage is worth having a contractor look at.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 86°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 40 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 86 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new air conditioner would save little on running costs in Madison County, so the repair decision comes down to the unit's condition.
Estimates for a typical Madison County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Illinois 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.
In Illinois, HVAC licensing for homes is left to the cities and towns.
In Madison County, whatever rule applies comes from the city or town, not the state. Illinois has no state HVAC license, so there is no state record to check on a contractor either way. Some towns require their own license before a contractor can do HVAC work, others have no rule at all, and which one applies depends entirely on where the house sits.
For an air conditioner repair, the part of the job with a real, nationwide requirement is the refrigerant. Any technician who opens the refrigerant side of the system, to recover it, recharge it, or fix a leak, has to hold EPA Section 608 certification. That is a federal rule, and it applies the same way in Madison County as anywhere else in the country, regardless of what the local town does or does not require.
Source: Illinois General Assembly
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- Most often it is a dirty filter or low refrigerant. A clogged filter blocks airflow across the coil until it can't pull heat out of the air anymore, and it's the easiest thing to check yourself. If the filter looks fine, the coil may be frozen or the system may be low on refrigerant from a leak, and that needs a contractor to find and fix. With summer afternoons here running near 86°F, a system that's struggling will fall behind fast, so it's worth checking sooner rather than later.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- The condensate drain line is probably clogged. Your AC pulls moisture out of the air as it cools, and that water is supposed to run out through a drain line to the outside. Algae and dirt build up in that line over a long cooling season and block it, so the water backs up and drips inside instead. A frozen coil that's thawing can cause the same thing, so if the line is clear, that's the next place to look.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with the thermostat and the breaker. Check that the thermostat is set to cool and below room temperature, and that the breaker for the AC hasn't tripped. If those are fine, the problem is likely electrical, like a bad capacitor or a tripped safety switch at the outdoor unit, and that calls for a contractor. Storms are common here, with 86 damaging wind events recorded over the past ten years, and a power surge during one can knock out the electrical parts that get an AC running.