AC Repair in Columbus, MS
Air conditioners here run from May through September. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Lowndes County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Five months of Columbus heat, every year
Your air conditioner works May through September here, with afternoons that average 91°F. That is the stretch where it can't rest. It runs long hours day after day to hold the house down against that heat, and the parts that keep it running, the compressor and the capacitor that starts it, wear from that steady load.
Lowndes County also sees its share of hail and wind. Ten years of records show 29 hail events, one with stones up to 4.6 inches, and 110 damaging wind events. That kind of weather can bend the thin fins on your outdoor unit or knock debris into it, and a coil that can't breathe makes the whole system work harder to cool the same house.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 91°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 29 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 110 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new air conditioner would cut about $60 a year off cooling for a typical Lowndes County home.
Estimates for a typical Lowndes 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.
That license is held by the contractor, not issued per job, so it covers the business taking on the work rather than any single repair. It comes from the State Board of Contractors, which is the body that licenses HVAC contractors in Mississippi.
For this repair, the part that matters most is the refrigerant. Any technician who opens the refrigerant side of your air conditioner has to hold EPA Section 608 certification, a federal rule that applies in every state. In Mississippi, that certification sits alongside the state license rather than replacing it.
Source: Mississippi State Board of Contractors
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- Most of the time the filter is clogged, or the outdoor unit is dirty and can't shed heat the way it should. It can also mean the refrigerant charge is low, which points to a leak somewhere in the line. A dirty filter you can check yourself. Anything involving refrigerant has to be handled by a technician with EPA 608 certification, since that's federal law for anyone opening that side of the system.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- The condensate drain line is probably clogged. Your AC pulls moisture out of the air as it cools, and that water is supposed to run out through a drain line to the outside. When the line clogs with algae or debris, the water backs up and drips inside instead. A frozen coil that's now thawing will cause the same thing, so it's worth checking whether the system was running weak or icy before the leak showed up.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. Check that it's set to cool and the temperature is actually below room temperature. If that's fine, check the breaker, since a tripped breaker is one of the more common reasons a system won't start at all. Columbus sees a good number of damaging wind events each year, and storms like that can trip a breaker or knock out power to the outdoor unit without anything being visibly wrong. If the breaker's fine and it still won't start, a contractor licensed through the Mississippi State Board of Contractors will need to look at it.