AC Repair in Stevens Point, WI
Air conditioners here run from July through August. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Portage County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Two months of real heat, then long stretches of nothing
Your air conditioner only earns its keep in July and August here, with afternoons averaging 79°F. That short, hard stretch of run time is what wears on it, then it sits idle most of the year while capacitors weaken and connections corrode from disuse.
Portage County has logged 25 hail events and 44 damaging wind events over the past ten years. Hail up to 2 inches can bend the fins on your outdoor unit or dent the cabinet itself, and wind that strong can rock the unit on its pad or drive debris into the coil. If your AC is short on air or icing up after a storm, that outdoor unit is where to look first.
- 2 months
- July through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 79°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 25 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 44 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 Portage County, so the repair decision comes down to the unit's condition.
Estimates for a typical Portage County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Wisconsin 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.
Wisconsin requires contractors to register with the state.
The registration puts the business on file with the Department of Safety and Professional Services. Nobody tested the contractor to get on that list, and the state does not license the trade, so there is no exam standing behind the name. Counties and cities in Wisconsin cannot layer their own HVAC license on top of that, so this is the only state record that exists for whoever works on your air conditioner.
What actually covers the work you need is federal. Any technician who opens the refrigerant side of your air conditioner, which a repair usually means doing, has to hold EPA Section 608 certification, and that rule applies the same way in every state regardless of what Wisconsin does or doesn't require on top of it.
Sources: Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau · Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- The most common cause is a dirty air filter choking off airflow across the coil. When that happens the coil can ice over, and once it's iced up you get weak air that isn't cold no matter how long the system runs. Low refrigerant from a leak causes the same icing and the same symptom. A dirty outdoor condenser, the unit sitting outside, can also stop it from shedding heat properly, so check that it isn't packed with grass clippings or covered in debris before anything else.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Cooling systems pull moisture out of the air as they run, and that water is supposed to drain out through a condensate line. If that line is clogged with algae or sediment, the water backs up and finds another way out, often through the ceiling below an attic unit or around the indoor coil. A frozen coil that then thaws can also dump more water than the drain pan is built to catch. Either way the leak points to a drainage or airflow problem, not the refrigerant itself.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. Check that it has power, is set to cool, and the set temperature is actually below the room temperature. If the thermostat looks fine, check the breaker box, since a tripped breaker will cut power to the outdoor unit with no warning at the thermostat. Wisconsin has had 44 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and a surge from a storm is a common reason a breaker trips or a capacitor fails without any other sign something is wrong.