Central Air Conditioning Repair in Post Falls
Summers here are short but hot. July and August normal highs at Coeur d'Alene are about 83 degrees, and about 18 days a year reach 90 or above (NOAA summer temperature normals). Most of those days come in a few stretches, so an air conditioner that sat idle from September to June has to work hard all at once. That is when weak parts give out.
Ductless heat pumps cool too: the wall-mounted heads in additions, bonus rooms and shops are air conditioners in summer, with the same capacitor, fan motor and drain problems on a smaller scale. AC repair covers the outdoor condenser, the indoor coil and the controls between them:
- Run capacitors and dual capacitors that keep the compressor or fan from starting
- Contactors with pitted or welded points
- Condenser fan motors and blades
- Compressor start problems and hard-start kits
- Frozen evaporator coils from low airflow or low charge
- Refrigerant leaks at coils, line sets and service valves
- Clogged condensate drains, float switches and condensate pumps
- Low-voltage wiring chewed or pulled loose at the outdoor unit
- Thermostats that no longer call for cooling
AC Repair in Post Falls After a Long Winter
An air conditioner in North Idaho sits through a winter of snow and about 120 freezing nights a year at Coeur d'Alene by NOAA's count, and the average last freeze is around April 28. Ice and meltwater rust cabinet screws and fan motor shafts, and mice and wasps move into idle condensers. When the first warm week arrives, the outdoor unit may hum without starting, the fan may turn slowly, or the breaker may trip.
Cottonwood fluff, pine pollen and dust coat condenser coils by midsummer, and a matted coil can cut cooling sharply on a hot afternoon. A loaded filter drops airflow across the indoor coil until it freezes. Those are the air conditioning problems that come with this climate.
Air Conditioning Repair for Newer and Older Homes
Most AC systems in Post Falls are split systems built with the house: a condenser on a pad outside and a coil on top of the furnace. With a median build year of 2005 in Post Falls, many of those systems are now at the age where capacitors, contactors and fan motors start to fail. In older neighborhoods of Coeur d'Alene and Dalton Gardens, central air was often added to an existing furnace years after the house was built, so line sets and drain lines run in odd places.
If the outdoor unit is a heat pump instead of an air conditioner, the same unit heats in winter; see heat pump repair in Post Falls. For the furnace and blower that move the cool air, see furnace repair. AC repair covers Post Falls, Hayden, Rathdrum and the other towns in the service area.