AC Repair in Des Moines, IA
Air conditioners here run from June through August. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Polk County will get in touch.
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Three hot months put the whole load on your AC at once
Des Moines only asks for cooling from June through August, but it asks hard. Afternoons average 83°F across those three months, and your air conditioner has to answer nearly every one of them. The compressor and the run capacitor that helps start it take the brunt of that, cycling on and off through the hottest part of the day, day after day, for a short stretch that has to carry the whole year.
Polk County also sees its share of hail and wind. Ten years of records show 162 hail events and 191 damaging wind events, with hailstones as large as 3.25 inches. The outdoor unit sits outside through all of it, and hail that size can bend the thin fins on the condenser coil or dent the cabinet around it. When that happens, the unit has to work harder to move heat off the coil, and you notice it as weaker cooling or a system that runs longer than it used to.
- 3 months
- June through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 83°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 162 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 191 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 Polk County, so the repair decision comes down to the unit's condition.
Estimates for a typical Polk County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Iowa 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.
Iowa requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The license is issued to the contractor, not to each job, so it is the company and the people it sends out who are on record with the state, not this one repair. The Iowa Plumbing and Mechanical Systems Board is the body that tested them and keeps that record.
Your air conditioner has a sealed refrigerant side, and any contractor who opens it, here or in any other state, needs an EPA Section 608 certification on top of the Iowa license. That certification exists because refrigerant is federally regulated, and it is a separate credential from the state's own license.
Sources: Iowa Legislature · Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- Most often the filter is clogged and starving the system of airflow, or the refrigerant charge is low from a leak in the coil or lines. A dirty outdoor unit can do it too, since the coil out there needs open airflow to shed the heat pulled from your house. If the air coming out is warm rather than just weak, that points more toward refrigerant than airflow. Only a licensed contractor with EPA 608 certification can open the refrigerant side to check the charge and find a leak.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- The drain line is probably clogged. Your AC pulls a lot of moisture out of the air on a hot afternoon, that water runs off the coil into a drain pan and out through a small line, and algae or dirt can block that line easily. When it backs up, the water has to go somewhere, and that's the puddle you're seeing. A frozen coil that's now thawing will do the same thing, so if the air was blowing weak or warm before you saw water, that's likely the real cause.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with the thermostat batteries and the breaker before anything else, since both are common and both are easy to check yourself. If the breaker keeps tripping when you reset it, don't keep resetting it, that usually means the compressor or a wire is drawing too much current. Homes here only run the AC June through August, so a system that sat idle the rest of the year can fail to start simply because a part gave out while it sat. A licensed contractor can test the capacitor, contactor and compressor to find which one it is.