AC Repair in Newark, OH
Air conditioners here run from June through August. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Licking County will get in touch.
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Three months of hard running, then hail and wind
Your air conditioner in Newark only has June through August to do its job, and it earns its keep on afternoons that average 82°F. That means it runs hard for three months straight instead of easing into the season, and the compressor and the fan motor take the brunt of it. When one of those wears down, you notice it as a system that runs longer and cools less, or one that hums but never gets the house down to temperature.
Licking County has also logged 33 hail events and 133 damaging wind events over the past ten years, with hail up to 1.25 inches. That kind of weather hits the outdoor unit directly. Hail dents and bends the thin fins on the condenser coil, and wind drives debris into the cabinet or knocks it out of level. Either one shows up as an air conditioner that struggles to keep up on the next hot afternoon.
- 3 months
- June through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 82°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 33 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 133 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 Licking County, so the repair decision comes down to the unit's condition.
Estimates for a typical Licking County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Ohio 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 Ohio, HVAC licensing for homes is left to the counties.
Licking County sets its own rule for who can do this work, since Ohio leaves HVAC licensing to the counties rather than handling it at the state level. Whatever Licking County requires of a contractor, an Ohio contractor working on homes also falls under the state's definition of one, which includes carrying at least $250,000 in liability insurance. That is not a license and nobody tests for it. It is a bar the business has to clear on paper.
For a repair like this, the protection that actually reaches into the job is federal. Your air conditioner runs on refrigerant, and any technician who opens that side of the system has to hold EPA Section 608 certification, no matter what state or county they work in. That is the credential tied to the part of the job that can go wrong.
Source: Ohio Legislative Service Commission
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- The most common reason is a dirty air filter choking off airflow across the coil, which can cause it to ice up and stop cooling. A refrigerant leak is another common cause, and that one needs a licensed contractor to find and fix. If the outdoor unit is running but the air inside is warm or barely cool, check the filter first before anything else.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Usually the condensate drain line is clogged, and water is backing up instead of draining outside. It can also mean the drain pan has rusted through, or the coil has frozen and is now melting and overflowing the pan as it thaws. A dirty filter is often behind the freezing, since it restricts airflow enough to drop the coil below freezing.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with the thermostat batteries and the breaker for the outdoor unit, since both are easy to miss and easy to fix. If those are fine, the capacitor that starts the compressor may have failed, which is common after years of summer use. Given the hail and wind this area sees, it is also worth having a contractor check the outdoor unit for storm damage if it sat through a bad storm recently.