AC Maintenance in Jonesboro, AR
Air conditioners here run from May through September, so April is the time for a tune-up. Tell us about your system, and a licensed contractor who covers Craighead County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Five months of Jonesboro heat, and hail that's already found your condenser
Your air conditioner runs from May through September here. Summer afternoons average 89°F, so the compressor cycles on and off most of the day for five straight months. That wears on the capacitor and the contactor, the parts that get it started each time. A tune-up checks them before the heat finds the weak one for you.
Craighead County has also logged 60 hail events and 91 damaging wind events over the past ten years. Hailstones here have reached 4 inches across. That kind of weather bends the thin fins on your condenser coil and can knock the unit out of level, even when nothing looks wrong from the ground. A yearly check gives someone a reason to look at the coil and the cabinet before a dented fin turns into a refrigerant leak.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 89°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 60 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 91 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Book your AC tune-up in April, before homes here start needing cooling in May.
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
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- Sep
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- Dec
A tune-up checks the refrigerant charge, cleans the coils, tests the capacitor and tightens the electrical connections.
Arkansas requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The license belongs to the contractor, not the job, so it covers the person or company coming to your house rather than each visit they make. Arkansas also keeps this at the state level. Craighead County cannot layer on its own license requirement or exempt anyone from the state's.
For a maintenance visit on your air conditioner, that license is what stands behind the work. If the technician checks refrigerant levels or opens that side of the system, federal law requires EPA Section 608 certification on top of the state license, the same as it would anywhere else in the country. Between the two, you have a contractor the state has tested and recorded, and a technician certified to handle refrigerant without venting it into the air.
Source: Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing
- What does AC maintenance include?
- A technician checks the refrigerant charge, cleans the condenser coil, and tests the capacitor and contactor in the outdoor unit. Inside, they check the evaporator coil and the blower, and change or check the filter. They also check the thermostat calibration and look at the condensate drain. The point is to catch a weak part before it fails during the season.
- How often does an air conditioner need maintenance?
- Once a year, ideally before the cooling season starts. Homes in Jonesboro run the AC May through September, with summer afternoons averaging 89°F, so the system is under real load for five months straight. A checkup before that stretch begins gives a technician time to catch a weak part before the heat sets in.
- Is AC maintenance worth it?
- Yes, because it catches the parts that wear out before they leave you without cooling on an 89°F afternoon. A capacitor or contactor that is starting to go can usually be spotted during a checkup, long before it strands the system. Jonesboro has also logged 60 hail events and 91 damaging wind events over the past ten years, so having a technician check the outdoor unit for storm damage during that visit is worth doing.