AC Repair in Rapid City, SD
Air conditioners here run from June through August. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Pennington County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Three months of hard running, and hail besides
Your air conditioner in Pennington County only gets three months to do its job, June through August, and it has to work hard in that stretch. Summer afternoons average 82°F, so the compressor is running long hours to keep up. That kind of steady load wears on the compressor and the fan motor faster than a system that gets to ease in and out through a longer season.
The other thing this area does to a unit is hail. Ten years of records show 673 hail events and wind strong enough to cause damage 420 times, with hailstones up to 4.5 inches. That kind of storm bends the fins on the outdoor coil and can crack the fan blade or dent the cabinet enough to throw the fan out of balance. After a bad storm, a unit that ran fine the day before can start blowing warm air or making noise it never made.
- 3 months
- June through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 82°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 673 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 420 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 Pennington County, so the repair decision comes down to the unit's condition.
Estimates for a typical Pennington 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 has no state license for HVAC contractors. Whatever rule applies depends on the city or town where the house sits, since licensing is handled locally rather than by the state. That means there is no state exam or state record behind a contractor here, only whatever the local building office requires, if anything.
Repairing an air conditioner means opening the refrigerant side of the system, and federal law covers that part no matter where the house is. Anyone doing that work must hold EPA Section 608 certification, earned by testing on the handling of refrigerant. That requirement holds in every state and every county, regardless of what the local building office does or does not license.
Source: South Dakota Legislature
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- Most often the filter is clogged and starving the system of airflow, or the refrigerant level is low. A dirty filter forces the coil to freeze up, and once that ice builds up you get weak air that isn't cold. Low refrigerant means a leak somewhere in the line set or coil, and that's not something you can top off yourself, since a technician needs EPA 608 certification just to open that side of the system. Check the filter first. If it's clean and you're still getting warm air, the system needs a licensed technician to find the actual cause.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- The drain line is probably clogged. Your AC pulls moisture out of the air as it cools, and that water is supposed to run out through a condensate 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. It can also mean the coil has frozen and is now melting, which points to low airflow or low refrigerant rather than the drain itself. Either way, a technician can clear the line or find the real cause in one visit.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Start with the thermostat and the breaker before assuming the worst. Check that the thermostat is set to cool and the temperature is actually below the room temperature, then check the breaker box for a tripped breaker, since AC units draw a lot of power and can trip one during a hot stretch. If the breaker keeps tripping after you reset it, stop and call a technician, because that usually means the compressor or a wire is drawing too much current. With summer afternoons here regularly hitting 82°F, a unit that won't start is worth getting looked at quickly.