AC Maintenance in Fond du Lac, 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 Fond du Lac County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Three months of real work, then months of sitting idle
Your air conditioner in Fond du Lac County only has June through August to earn its keep, and summer afternoons averaging 79°F mean it runs hard for those three months. Then it sits shut down the rest of the year, and a unit that sits is a unit where a stuck contactor or a nest of debris in the coil goes unnoticed until the first hot day.
The county has also logged 29 hail events and 59 damaging wind events over the past ten years, with hail up to 3 inches. That kind of weather bends fins and can knock the outdoor unit's cabinet or fan out of true even when the damage isn't obvious from a glance. A tune-up is when someone checks the coil, the refrigerant charge, and the electrical connections before the unit has to prove itself on a 79°F afternoon.
- 3 months
- June through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 79°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 29 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 59 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.
Registration puts a contractor's business on file with the Department of Safety and Professional Services. Nobody tests them on the trade to get that number, and the state doesn't track how the work turns out. Wisconsin also keeps this uniform. Counties and cities can't layer their own HVAC license on top, so the registration is the same whether the contractor is working in Fond du Lac or anywhere else in the state.
For a maintenance visit on your air conditioner, the number that matters more is federal. Any technician who opens the refrigerant side of your system, to check the charge or get into the coil, has to hold EPA Section 608 certification. That's a personal credential, tied to the technician, not the business, and it applies in every state no matter what Wisconsin does or doesn't license.
Sources: Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau · Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services
- What does AC maintenance include?
- A technician cleans the condenser coil, checks the refrigerant charge, and tests the capacitor and contactor in the outdoor unit. Inside, they check the evaporator coil and the condensate drain, since a clogged drain is one of the most common reasons an AC stops cooling in summer. They also check that the thermostat calls for cooling and that the system cycles on and off correctly. If your filter hasn't been changed, they'll flag that too, since a dirty filter restricts airflow across the coil and makes the whole system work harder.
- How often does an air conditioner need maintenance?
- Once a year, before the season it gets used. Here that means having it looked at in spring, ahead of the June through August stretch when it actually runs. A yearly check catches a weak capacitor or a low refrigerant charge before a 79°F afternoon turns into a no-cool call.
- Is AC maintenance worth it?
- Yes, mainly because it catches small problems while they're still small. A capacitor that's starting to fail or a coil that's coating up with dirt will keep running for a while, but they make the system work harder and raise the odds it quits during the hottest stretch of summer. Homes here only run their AC three months a year, June through August, so a spring check is what catches these problems before the system has to work at all.