Cooling
Air Conditioning Maintenance
A 21-point inspection twice a year that catches the small thing in spring instead of the expensive thing in August, with the readings written down so the next visit has something to compare.
What a neglected condenser does to a Conroe summer
Between pollen, leaf fall and the dust that comes with new construction around Montgomery County, an outdoor coil collects a surprising amount of debris in a single season. Packed fins cannot shed heat, so head pressure climbs, the compressor draws more current, and the system runs longer to deliver less. Nobody in the house notices until the first week of triple digit afternoons, when there is no margin left.
Indoors the failures are quieter. A clogged condensate drain backs water into the pan and trips a float switch on the hottest day of the year. A dirty filter starves the blower and ices the coil. A capacitor that tested fine last spring has been losing capacity for months. Every one of these is cheap to catch on a calm April morning and expensive to meet at six in the evening in August.
That is the case for maintenance in one sentence: you either pay for the inspection or pay for the emergency the inspection would have caught. Tom Norton JR wrote about the annual visit he gets. The technician, Jason, was very thorough, even flushing the condensate drain, checking everything on the condenser unit, removing the leaves and rinsing off the coils.
Condenser on a level concrete pad beside a sided house
Inside the 21-point visit, and the readings kept on file
The inspection covers filters, coils, refrigerant levels and overall system performance, and each of those gets a measurement rather than a glance. Filters are checked for restriction. Both coils are inspected for the fouling that costs capacity. Refrigerant is evaluated from charge readings, not from whether the lines feel cold, and then the whole system is run to see how it performs as a unit.
Performance is where the readings come in. The technician runs a cycle and records the temperature split between return and supply, the amp draw of the compressor and condenser fan against the nameplate, and the static pressure across the system. Those figures are the file on your equipment. Next spring's visit is measured against this spring's, which is the only honest way to see a slow decline before it becomes a failure.
Members get two visits per year with reminder service, so the calendar is handled, along with priority status, no overtime fee and member discounts on parts and repairs. The agreement starts at $16.58 a month, and pricing can be based on the number of systems in the home. Our NATE-certified technicians make both visits, one ahead of cooling season and one ahead of heating season.
How you know the last visit is wearing off
Maintenance is not a one-time fix, and the system will tell you when it is overdue. Longer run times in the same weather, a thermostat that lags behind its setting in late afternoon, water around the indoor unit, a musty smell when the air comes on, or a rising bill with no change in how you live are all readings your own house is taking for us. When any of those show up between visits, call (936) 703-2130 rather than waiting for the next date on the calendar.
Skipping the service is a bet that nothing changed in six months, and in Conroe humidity rarely lets that bet pay. Moisture feeds algae in the drain line and dust in the coil, heat works on the capacitor and contactor, and every season of deferral stacks on the last. The unit that fails in July was usually asking for attention in April, and a technician with a clamp meter would have heard it.
We keep it simple on purpose. The maintenance agreement is on the page, the price is on the page, and the technician's readings stay with your equipment's record. If the inspection finds a part nearing the end of its life, you hear it with the number beside it, and what happens next is your decision, backed by a written guarantee on our work and a free estimate if replacement turns out to be the honest answer.
Licensed, bonded and insured. TACLA 20944C. NATE-certified technicians. Call (936) 703-2130.
The maintenance agreement
Two visits a year, and each one ends with figures on paper
- Starts at
- $16.58a month
- Visits
- 2per year, with reminder service
- Inspection
- 21points
- Overtime fee
- Noneplus priority status
“He answered dozens of questions I asked and explained what he was doing and why.”
Full terms are on the maintenance agreement page. Call for complete details on (936) 703-2130.