AC Repair in St. George, UT
Air conditioners here run from June through September. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Washington County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Four months of hard running in St. George heat
From June through September your air conditioner is working against afternoons that average 90°F. It runs long hours to hold the house down, and that steady load falls hardest on the compressor and the capacitor that starts it. When a capacitor weakens, the unit hums or clicks and the compressor never kicks in.
Washington County has also logged 60 damaging wind events and 7 hail storms over the past ten years, one with hail up to 1.75 inches. Wind can bend the thin fins on your outdoor unit's coil, and hail can dent the cabinet or the fins too. Either way, airflow across the coil suffers, and the system has to work even harder in a summer that already asks a lot of it.
- 4 months
- June through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 90°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 7 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 60 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 Washington County home.
Estimates for a typical Washington County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Utah 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.
Utah requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The Division of Professional Licensing issues that license and keeps the record of who holds one. It covers the contractor, not the specific job, so the same license applies whether the work is a repair or a full installation. Utah also sets a line at $7,000. Work under that amount does not need a licensed contractor, so on smaller repairs the license requirement itself does not apply.
If this repair involves opening the refrigerant side of the system, federal law requires the technician doing that part of the job to hold EPA Section 608 certification, regardless of the job's price or Utah's $7,000 threshold. That certification is separate from the state license and covers refrigerant handling specifically, in every state.
Sources: Utah State Legislature · Utah Department of Commerce
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- Most often the filter is clogged, or the outdoor unit is dirty enough that it can't shed heat. A dirty filter chokes airflow across the indoor coil, and the coil can ice over as a result, so what comes out of the vents feels warm or weak. Low refrigerant from a leak causes the same symptom, but only a licensed contractor with EPA 608 certification can legally check that, since it means opening the refrigerant side of the system. Checking the filter first costs nothing and rules out the simplest cause.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Water around your indoor unit usually means the condensate drain line is clogged or the pan underneath it has cracked. Algae and dust build up inside that line over a cooling season and block it, so the water backs up and finds another way out. A dirty filter can also cause the coil to ice over, and when that ice melts it can overwhelm the drain pan. Either way, water where it shouldn't be is worth having a contractor look at soon, since it can damage the floor or ceiling around the unit.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. Check that it has power, is set to cool, and the set temperature is below the room temperature. If the thermostat looks fine, check the breaker for the outdoor unit, since a tripped breaker will stop the whole system cold. With 60 damaging wind events recorded here over the past ten years, a breaker tripped by a storm or a power blip is worth checking first. If the breaker holds and the thermostat has power but the unit still won't run, a contractor will need to look at it, since the next likely causes are inside the equipment itself.