AC Repair in Lusk, WY
Air conditioners here run from July through August. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Niobrara County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Two months of heat, and hail before it
Your air conditioner only really works in July and August here, then sits idle the rest of the year. That kind of stop and start is hard on a system. It sits through a Niobrara County winter without running, then gets asked to work hard the moment the afternoons hit 85 degrees, and a unit that has not run in months does not always start clean.
The outdoor unit also takes the weather straight on. Niobrara County has seen 104 hail events and 42 damaging wind events over the past ten years, with hail up to 4.25 inches. Hail that size bends the thin aluminum fins on the condenser coil, and bent fins choke off airflow. When that happens, the system runs longer to cool the same house, or it stops cooling well at all.
- 2 months
- July through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 85°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 104 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 42 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 Niobrara County, so the repair decision comes down to the unit's condition.
Estimates for a typical Niobrara County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Wyoming 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.
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- The most common cause is a dirty air filter choking off airflow across the coil, which can make the coil freeze up. Low refrigerant from a leak is another common cause, and it will not cool right no matter how long it runs. A contractor can check the filter, the airflow, and the refrigerant charge to find which one it is.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Most of the time this is a clogged condensate drain line, so the water backs up and drips out instead of draining away outside. Algae and dirt build up in that line over a couple of cooling seasons and block it. A dirty air filter can also cause the coil to ice over, and the water shows up when that ice melts faster than the drain can handle.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Check the thermostat first, since a dead battery or a setting bumped too high will stop the AC from starting. If the thermostat looks right, a tripped breaker or a blown fuse at the outdoor unit is the next thing to check. Lusk sees enough wind and hail some years to trip a breaker or damage the outdoor unit, so if the problem started during or after a storm, have a contractor check the unit before resetting anything.