AC Repair in Bay St. Louis, MS
Air conditioners here run from April through October. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Hancock County will get in touch.
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Seven months of Gulf Coast heat wears on your AC
Your air conditioner runs from April through October here, seven months a year. On the afternoons that hit 90°F, it runs for hours at a stretch to keep up. That kind of runtime falls on the compressor and the fan motor, the parts that carry the load the whole time the unit is on.
Hancock County also gets its share of rough weather. Ten years of records show 20 damaging wind events and 8 hail events, with one hailstone 1.5 inches wide. Wind can bend the thin fins on your outdoor coil or work loose the unit's connections. Hail that size can dent the coil or the fan housing. Either one shows up as an AC that runs but cools less, or one that trips off and won't restart.
- 7 months
- April through October, your air conditioner is on duty
- 90°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 8 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 20 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new air conditioner would cut about $70 a year off cooling for a typical Hancock County home.
Estimates for a typical Hancock County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Mississippi 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.
Mississippi requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
Mississippi's license covers the contractor as a whole, not the specific job at your house. The State Board of Contractors is the body that holds that license, and it stays tied to the contractor from one repair to the next rather than being issued fresh each time.
For this repair, that license is what stands behind the work, but your air conditioner's refrigerant side brings in a separate rule that applies no matter which state the work happens in. Anyone opening that part of the system has to hold EPA Section 608 certification. That certification is federal, not part of the Mississippi license, and it applies on top of it whenever refrigerant is involved.
Source: Mississippi State Board of Contractors
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- Most of the time this means the system is low on refrigerant or the airflow is blocked somewhere. A dirty filter can choke off airflow enough that the coil freezes over, and once that happens you get warm air or none at all. It can also mean the compressor outside isn't running while the fan inside still is, which points to an electrical problem rather than a refrigerant one. A contractor needs to check pressures and airflow to tell which one it is, since a technician has to hold EPA certification just to open the refrigerant side and look.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- The drain line that carries condensation away from your indoor coil is clogged or disconnected. That line runs downhill from the coil to the outside, and algae or dirt can block it over the years, which backs water up until it overflows the drain pan. A frozen coil that then thaws will do the same thing, so if the system was blowing warm air before you noticed the leak, that is likely the cause. Either way it is worth shutting the system off until someone looks at it, since water sitting near the unit or dripping through a ceiling only gets worse.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with the thermostat and the breaker before assuming the worst. Check that the thermostat is set to cool and below the room temperature, and check the breaker box for a tripped switch, since a hard summer here with afternoons near 90°F puts real strain on the system. If both look fine, the problem is likely inside the unit itself, a failed capacitor or a safety switch that has shut it down to protect the compressor. That part needs a contractor to diagnose, since guessing and restarting it repeatedly can cause more damage.