AC Repair in Gulfport, MS
Air conditioners here run from May through October. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Harrison County will get in touch.
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Six months of Gulfport heat wears an air conditioner down
Your air conditioner runs from May through October here, six months of the year, and on summer afternoons it is working against a temperature averaging 90°F. That is a long cooling season with little break, and the compressor and the fan motor carry most of that load. Parts that run this many hours a year wear sooner than the same parts in a place with a short summer.
Harrison County has also logged 53 damaging wind events and 30 hail events over the past ten years, with hail up to 2 inches. Wind can bend or knock loose the fins on the outdoor unit and hail that size can dent the cabinet or damage the coil inside it. If your air conditioner is blowing warm air or the outdoor unit is making a new noise after a storm, the coil or the fins are worth checking first.
- 6 months
- May through October, your air conditioner is on duty
- 90°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 30 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 53 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new air conditioner would cut about $80 a year off cooling for a typical Harrison County home.
Estimates for a typical Harrison 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 licenses HVAC contractors through the State Board of Contractors. The license covers the contractor, not each job, so the same license stands behind a repair, an installation, or a service call.
For a repair on your air conditioner, that state license is what stands behind the person doing the work. If the repair means opening the refrigerant side of the system, the technician also has to hold EPA Section 608 certification, a federal requirement in every state and separate from Mississippi's license.
Source: Mississippi State Board of Contractors
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- Most of the time the refrigerant is low, meaning there's a leak somewhere in the line, or the coil is dirty or frozen and can't pull heat out of the air. It can also be a bad compressor, which is the part that actually moves the refrigerant. Running six months a year in 90°F afternoons, these systems work hard, and a low refrigerant charge shows up as warm air first. Anyone opening the refrigerant side to check the charge has to hold EPA 608 certification, so this one is a call for a licensed contractor.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Usually the drain line is clogged and water is backing up instead of draining outside. It can also mean the coil has frozen and is now melting, which points to low refrigerant or restricted airflow. A dirty filter is the most common cause of that restricted airflow. Check the filter first, since that's the one thing you can rule out yourself.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. Check the batteries and make sure it's set to cool and below the room temperature. If that's fine, check the breaker, since a tripped breaker will shut the whole system down with no warning. With 53 damaging wind events recorded here over the past ten years, a tripped breaker after a storm is common enough to check first. If the breaker keeps tripping when you reset it, that points to a bigger electrical problem and it's time to call a contractor.