AC Repair in Jackson, MS
Air conditioners here run from May through October. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Hinds County will get in touch.
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Six months of heat, and storms in between
Your air conditioner runs from May through October in Jackson, six months of the year. On afternoons that average 91°F, it is not cycling on and off. It is running long stretches just to hold the house where you set it. That kind of runtime wears on the compressor and on the capacitor that helps start it, and a weak capacitor is a common reason the unit hums but the fan does not turn.
Hinds County has also seen 270 damaging wind events and 46 hail events over the past ten years, with hailstones as large as 2.75 inches. Wind can bend the thin aluminum fins on the outdoor unit or throw debris into it, and hail that size can dent the fins or the cabinet itself. Either one blocks the airflow the system needs to cool the house, and you notice it as warm air from the vents or a unit that runs without keeping up.
- 6 months
- May through October, your air conditioner is on duty
- 91°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 46 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 270 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 Hinds County home.
Estimates for a typical Hinds 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.
The Mississippi State Board of Contractors licenses HVAC contractors in this state. That license is tied to the contractor, not to any single job, so the same license that qualifies someone to install a system is what qualifies them to repair your air conditioner.
Any technician who opens the refrigerant side of your air conditioner, which a repair like this usually calls for, also has to hold EPA Section 608 certification. That is a federal requirement and applies no matter which state the work is done in. The state license and the federal certification cover two different things, and a contractor doing refrigerant work on your system needs both.
Source: Mississippi State Board of Contractors
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- Most often the filter is clogged or the outdoor unit is dirty, and either one stops the system from moving enough heat out of the house. A refrigerant leak will also cause this, and that's a repair for a licensed contractor, since federal law requires an EPA Section 608 certification just to open the refrigerant side. With summer afternoons here running around 91°F, a system that's low on refrigerant will struggle most in the heat of the day.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- The drain line is probably clogged, and water is backing up instead of running outside. It can also mean the coil is frozen and now thawing, which usually points to poor airflow from a dirty filter or a low refrigerant charge. Either way, water pooling near the unit is worth calling a contractor about before it reaches nearby drywall or flooring.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Check the thermostat batteries and the breaker first, since those cause more no-start calls than anything inside the unit. If both look fine, the capacitor or the contactor inside the outdoor unit may have failed, and those are parts a contractor tests directly rather than guesses at. Jackson's storm history includes plenty of hail and wind, so if the outdoor unit took a hit recently, that is worth mentioning to whoever comes out to look at it.