Air Conditioning Repair Virginia Beach…

That could be very likely what you typed into your computer when you noticed your house getting hotter and hotter, even though you had the thermostat as low as it would go.

It happens… and usually during the hottest part of the day… or the hottest day of the year!

And there is a reason for this in many cases.  As the temperature climbs, your unit works harder and harder and for longer periods of time.

The refrigerant, or freon as so many folks like to call it, that cools the compressor as well as your home, may be doing all it can to try and keep the house cool and by the time it gets back to the compressor it has no cooling capacity left and your compressor over heats.

This may be the result of the unit being under-charged, but whatever the case, as the compressor heats up it draws more power, raising your electricl bill and putting unnecessary strain on itself and another related component that HATES the heat… the capacitor.

If we step aside a moment from the compressor running hot and look at the capacitor, whose job it is to keep that compressor running, it stands to reason that it is working extra hard as well.  Capacitors have a life span and they usually die on the hottest day of the year.

Most just swell and get bloated and stop working, and so does your fan motor and compressor, but some will actually explode.  Nothing dangerous or hugely violent, just messy.

A capacitor is super easy to change out and is not expensive at all but companies love to charge a ton for them.  A dual capacitor, which runs the compressor and the fan motor, should not cost more than a hundred bucks or so to replace.  If it is a common size like a 35/5 440 volt capacitor you should pay about 8o bucks.

So to re “cap”  get it, “cap”?  That is short for capacitor… anyway, if your ac works in the morning or on cooler days but not when the heat really hits, you are probably low on freon.  If it was working perfectly one day and now the fan does not spin and you do not hear the compressor trying to come on, it just might be the capacitor.

Don’t let someone charge an arm and a leg for either the freon or that cap!