AC Repair in Oakes, ND
Air conditioners here run from June through August. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Dickey County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Three months of work, all at once
Your air conditioner in Oakes sits idle most of the year and then has to run hard from June through August. Summer afternoons average 79°F, so the compressor cycles on and off for months without much of a break in between.
The bigger risk here is what comes with the weather. Dickey County has seen 39 hail events and 36 damaging wind events over the past ten years, with hail up to 3.75 inches recorded. Hail that size can dent or puncture the thin aluminum fins on your outdoor unit, and high wind can knock the cabinet out of alignment or drive debris into it. Either one shows up as an AC that runs but cools poorly, or one that suddenly won't run at all.
- 3 months
- June through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 79°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 39 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 36 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 Dickey County, so the repair decision comes down to the unit's condition.
Estimates for a typical Dickey 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.
The state license is held by the contractor, not issued per job, so it covers the business doing the work rather than any single repair. In North Dakota, work under $4,000 does not need a licensed contractor, so a smaller repair job may fall outside that requirement.
Whether or not the job needs a licensed contractor, anyone who opens the refrigerant side of your air conditioner has to hold EPA Section 608 certification. That rule comes from the federal government and applies the same way in every state. It is what stands behind the part of the job where refrigerant is handled, regardless of the size of the repair.
Sources: North Dakota Legislative Branch · North Dakota Secretary of State
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- Most often the filter is clogged and starving the system of airflow, or the refrigerant charge is low. A dirty filter chokes airflow across the coil, and once that happens the coil can ice over so the air coming out feels weak or warm instead of cold. Low refrigerant almost always means a leak somewhere in the line, and that's not something to keep running on since it just gets worse. A contractor can check the charge and find the leak, since anyone opening the refrigerant side of the system has to hold EPA certification to do that work.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- The 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 condensate drain line. Algae and dirt build up in that line over time and block it, so the water backs up and drips out near the indoor unit instead. A frozen coil that's now thawing can look the same way, so worth checking if the air was blowing weak before you noticed the leak.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with the thermostat and the breaker. Make sure it's set to cool and a few degrees below room temperature, and check that the breaker for the outdoor unit hasn't tripped. If those are fine, the capacitor may have failed, that's a common reason the outdoor unit won't start even when the thermostat is calling for cooling. Summers here only run June through August, but a system that won't start on a 79°F afternoon needs attention fast since there's not much room to wait it out.