AC Repair in Kennewick, WA
Air conditioners here run from June through August. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Benton County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Three months of heat, hard on your AC
Kennewick asks a lot of an air conditioner in a short window. From June through August, with afternoons averaging 86°F, your system runs long hours to keep up, then sits idle most of the year. That start and stop pattern, packed into three months, puts real strain on the capacitor and the compressor.
The wind here adds to it. Benton County has seen 25 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and wind-blown dust and debris can clog the outdoor coil and make the whole system work harder to move heat. When the coil is dirty or the capacitor is weak, you notice it as warm air from the vents or a unit that runs and runs without cooling the house down.
- 3 months
- June through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 86°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 3 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 25 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new air conditioner would cut about $40 a year off cooling for a typical Benton County home.
Estimates for a typical Benton County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Washington 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.
Washington requires contractors to register with the state.
Washington's registration puts the business on file with the Department of Labor and Industries. Nobody tests the contractor's trade knowledge before that record is created, so the registration tells you the business is on the books, not that the work was checked.
On an air conditioner repair, the part that actually gets checked is the refrigerant work. Any technician who opens that side of your system needs an EPA Section 608 certification, and that requirement holds in every state, Washington included.
Source: Washington State Legislature
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- Most of the time the filter is clogged and starving the system of airflow, so check that first. If the filter is clean, the refrigerant charge could be low, or the outdoor unit's coil could be caked with dirt and unable to shed heat. Kennewick summers push units hard for three months straight, and a system already low on refrigerant will fall behind fastest on the 86 degree afternoons. A contractor with EPA 608 certification is who you need if refrigerant turns out to be the problem, since only someone certified can legally open that side of the system.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Water around your indoor unit almost always means the condensate drain line is clogged or the pan underneath it has cracked. Algae and dust build up in that line over a cooling season and block the water from draining where it should, so it backs up and spills out instead. A frozen evaporator coil that then thaws will do the same thing, dripping water once it melts. Either way it is worth having someone look before the water reaches drywall or flooring.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Check your thermostat batteries and settings first, since a dead thermostat will not call for cooling at all. If that is fine, look at your breaker panel, because a tripped breaker will cut power to the whole system. Capacitor failure is another common cause, and it will not fix itself, so the unit needs a contractor to test and replace it. Kennewick's 25 recorded wind events over the past ten years are also worth keeping in mind, since a branch or debris strike can knock power out or damage the outdoor unit even when nothing looks wrong at a glance.