AC Maintenance in Baraboo, WI
Air conditioners here run from June through August, so May is the time for a tune-up. Tell us about your system, and a licensed contractor who covers Sauk County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Three months of work, packed into one season
Your air conditioner in Baraboo only has June through August to do its job, and it runs hard those three months, working against summer afternoons that average 80°F. That kind of stretch, on after another, wears on the parts that keep it running, the same way any machine wears when you ask a lot of it in a short time.
Sauk County has also seen its share of hail and wind, 22 hail events and 61 damaging wind events over the past ten years, with hailstones as large as 1.75 inches. A tune-up is when a technician checks the outdoor unit for that kind of damage, the coil fins, the fan blades, the cabinet, before it turns into a bigger problem in the middle of summer.
- 3 months
- June through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 80°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 22 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 61 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Book your AC tune-up in May, before homes here start needing cooling in June.
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
A tune-up checks the refrigerant charge, cleans the coils, tests the capacitor and tightens the electrical connections.
Wisconsin requires contractors to register with the state.
That registration puts a contractor's business on file with the Department of Safety and Professional Services. Nobody tested their trade knowledge to get it, and the state does not track how they perform once they have it. Wisconsin also keeps this at the state level. Sauk County and its municipalities cannot layer on their own HVAC license, so the registration is the whole of it wherever you are in the county.
For a maintenance visit, the part that actually needs a credential is the refrigerant. If the technician is going to check the charge or get into the sealed side of your air conditioner, federal law requires EPA Section 608 certification to do that, and it applies the same in Wisconsin as anywhere else. That certification is separate from the state registration and is the one piece of this job that was actually tested.
Sources: Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau · Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services
- What does AC maintenance include?
- A contractor checks refrigerant pressure, cleans the outdoor coil, and tests the capacitor and contactor that start the compressor. They also check the condensate drain, since a clogged drain can back up and cause water damage inside the house. The filter gets checked too, since airflow across the indoor coil affects how well the whole system cools.
- How often does an air conditioner need maintenance?
- Once a year, before the weather turns warm. Here that means having it looked at before June, when the cooling season starts. Summer afternoons average 80 degrees, and a system that has not been checked can lose efficiency or fail right when it is needed most.
- Is AC maintenance worth it?
- Yes, because it catches small problems, like a weak capacitor or a dirty coil, before they turn into a breakdown in the middle of summer. Cooling season here only runs three months, June through August, so a system that fails partway through has little room to be down. A contractor can also spot storm damage during a checkup. This area has seen 22 hail events and 61 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and hail up to 1.75 inches can bend the fins on an outdoor unit without it being obvious from a glance.