AC Repair in Bottineau, ND
Air conditioners here run from July through August. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Bottineau County will get in touch.
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Two months of heat, and hail in between
Your air conditioner only runs hard in July and August here. Summer afternoons average 78°F, and that is the whole stretch it has to work before it sits idle the rest of the year.
Bottineau County has seen 65 hail events and 34 damaging wind events over the past ten years, with hail up to 3 inches across. Hail that size dents the fins on the outdoor coil and can bend the cabinet around it. Wind that strong can rock the unit on its pad or throw debris into it. Either one shows up the same way. The air from your vents is not as cold as it should be, or the outdoor unit is rattling or will not turn on at all.
- 2 months
- July through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 78°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 65 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 34 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new air conditioner would save little on running costs in Bottineau County, so the repair decision comes down to the unit's condition.
Estimates for a typical Bottineau County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, North Dakota 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.
North Dakota requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
That license is issued by the Secretary of State and it covers the contractor as a business, not each job they take on. In North Dakota, work under $4,000 does not need a licensed contractor, so whether this rule applies to your repair depends on what the job ends up costing.
If the repair involves opening the refrigerant side of your air conditioner, the technician needs EPA Section 608 certification. That is a federal requirement, the same in every state, and it covers the refrigerant work specifically, separate from whatever the state license does or does not require for this job.
Sources: North Dakota Legislative Branch · North Dakota Secretary of State
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- The most common reason is low refrigerant from a leak somewhere in the coil or the line set. A dirty air filter or a coil caked with dust can also block the airflow enough that what comes out feels barely cool. Sometimes the outdoor unit itself has quit while the indoor fan keeps running, so you get air movement with no cooling behind it. A contractor needs to check the refrigerant charge and the coils to know which one you have, and only someone with EPA 608 certification can legally open the refrigerant side to fix a leak.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Usually the drain line has clogged with algae or dirt and water is backing up instead of draining outside. It can also mean the condensate pan has rusted through, or the coil has frozen up and is now melting and overflowing the pan as it thaws. A clogged filter or low refrigerant can cause that freezing, so the leak is sometimes a sign of a second problem underneath it. Shut the system off if water is pooling near anything electrical and have a contractor trace it back to the source.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. Check that it has power and is set to cool below the room temperature. If the thermostat looks fine, check the breaker next, since a tripped breaker or a blown fuse will keep the whole system dead. Beyond that it could be a bad capacitor, a failed contactor, or a safety switch that has shut the unit down on purpose, and those need a contractor to sort out. This area has seen 65 hail events and 34 damaging wind events over the past ten years, so if the system stopped working after a storm, it is worth having the outdoor unit checked for damage.