AC Repair in Brookings, SD
Air conditioners here run from June through August. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Brookings County will get in touch.
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Three months of heat, then hail and wind the rest of the year
Brookings only needs three months of cooling, June through August, with afternoons averaging 79°F. That short season means your air conditioner sits idle most of the year, then gets asked to run hard as soon as the heat shows up. A unit that was ignored all winter and spring has to start clean the first hot week, and any weak capacitor or low refrigerant charge tends to show up right then.
The county has logged 33 hail events and 77 damaging wind events over the past ten years, with hail up to 1.75 inches. Hail that size dents the thin aluminum fins on the outdoor coil, and bent fins choke off airflow the unit needs to cool. Wind that strong can shift the outdoor unit or throw debris into it. If your air conditioner is blowing warm air or the outdoor fan sounds like it is straining, a storm may be the reason.
- 3 months
- June through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 79°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 33 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 77 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 Brookings County, so the repair decision comes down to the unit's condition.
Estimates for a typical Brookings County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, South Dakota 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.
In South Dakota, HVAC licensing for homes is left to the cities and towns.
South Dakota does not license HVAC contractors at the state level. Whatever rule applies to the contractor working on your air conditioner comes from Brookings or whatever city or town the house sits in, not from the state. Some places register or license contractors on their own. Others have no rule at all. There is no state record to check either way.
What does apply everywhere, including here, is federal. Repairing an air conditioner means opening the refrigerant side of the system. Any technician who does that has to hold EPA Section 608 certification. That is not a state license. It does not cover the quality of the repair, only the handling of the refrigerant itself. Beyond that, whatever oversight exists on this job is whatever the local government where the house stands has put in place.
Source: South Dakota Legislature
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- Usually it's a dirty filter or low refrigerant. A clogged filter starves the coil of airflow, and if the coil ices up you may feel warm or weak air instead of cold. Low refrigerant means there's a leak somewhere in the line, and that's a job for a licensed contractor since only someone with EPA Section 608 certification can legally open that side of the system. Check the filter first. If it's clean and you're still not getting cold air, call someone to look at the refrigerant charge.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Most often the condensate drain line is clogged. Your AC pulls moisture out of the air as it cools, and that water is supposed to run out through a drain line to the outside. Algae and dirt build up in that line over time and block it, so the water backs up and drips inside instead. A frozen coil that then thaws can cause the same thing, usually tied to poor airflow from a dirty filter.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Check the thermostat first, then the breaker. If the thermostat screen is blank or unresponsive, it may need new batteries or a reset. If that's fine, check your electrical panel for a tripped breaker, since the outdoor unit and indoor blower each run on their own circuit. Summers here only last from June through August, so a unit that's been sitting idle can sometimes need a simple reset switch pressed at the outdoor unit before it will start. If none of that gets it running, the problem is likely inside the unit and needs a contractor to diagnose it.