AC Repair in Bend, OR
If your air conditioner quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Deschutes County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Bend doesn't ask much of an air conditioner
Summer afternoons here average 77 degrees, so most homes get through the year without running cooling for months on end. That's easy duty compared to hotter parts of the country, and it means a well-kept air conditioner in Bend can go a long time between problems.
The bigger risk to the unit sitting outside is the weather itself. Deschutes County saw 26 hail events and 24 damaging wind events over the past ten years. Hail up to 2 inches can bend the thin fins on the outdoor coil and block airflow, and high winds can knock debris into the cabinet or rock the unit on its pad. If your air conditioner is short on cooling or blowing warm air after a storm, that outdoor coil is the first place to look.
- 77°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 26 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 24 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 Deschutes County, so the repair decision comes down to the unit's condition.
Estimates for a typical Deschutes County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Oregon 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.
Oregon requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The Construction Contractors Board licenses the contractor, not each job, so the same license covers a repair like this whether it takes an hour or a full day. Below $1,000, Oregon does not require the person doing the work to hold that license.
If the repair involves the refrigerant side of your system, the technician handling it needs to hold EPA Section 608 certification. That applies in every state, because refrigerant is federally regulated, not because Oregon requires it separately.
Source: Oregon Legislative Assembly
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- Most often the filter is clogged and starving the system of airflow, or the refrigerant charge is low from a leak. A dirty filter makes the coil work harder until it ices up, and once that happens you get weak or warm air until it thaws. Low refrigerant needs a licensed contractor, since only someone with EPA Section 608 certification can legally open that side of the system.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Your AC pulls moisture out of the air as it cools, and that water is supposed to drain out through a condensate line. If that line is clogged or cracked, the water backs up and finds another way out, often around the indoor unit. A frozen coil that then thaws can cause the same thing, so the fix depends on which of the two it is.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Check the thermostat first, since a dead battery or a setting knocked to the wrong mode will stop the system cold. If the thermostat looks right, it could be a tripped breaker or a blown fuse at the outdoor unit. Bend sees its share of damaging wind and hail each year, and either one can trip a breaker or damage the outdoor unit enough to keep it from starting.