AC Repair in Medford, OR
Air conditioners here run from July through August. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Jackson County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Medford asks a lot of your AC in a short season
Your air conditioner in Medford only gets two months to do its job, July and August, and summer afternoons averaging 80°F do not make it easy. The unit runs hard, day after day, for that whole stretch.
Jackson County has also logged 69 damaging wind events and 9 hail storms over the past ten years. One of those hailstones measured 1.75 inches. Wind can bend the fins on your outdoor unit's coil and rock the cabinet on its pad. Hail that size can dent the coil or crack a fan blade. Either one shows up the same way. The air from your vents is not as cold as it should be, or the outdoor unit is making a noise it did not make before.
- 2 months
- July through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 80°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 9 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 69 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 Jackson County, so the repair decision comes down to the unit's condition.
Estimates for a typical Jackson 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 tests and licenses the contractor, not the job itself, so the same license covers this repair and any other HVAC work that contractor takes on. In Oregon, work under $1,000 does not need a licensed contractor, so a small repair can fall outside that requirement depending on the bill.
Most air conditioner repairs involve the refrigerant side of the system, and any technician who opens it needs EPA Section 608 certification, which applies everywhere in the country regardless of what the job costs. That certification is separate from the state license and covers the handling of refrigerant itself, not the contractor's standing to do business in Oregon.
Source: Oregon Legislative Assembly
- Why is my AC not blowing cold air?
- The most common cause is a dirty air filter choking off airflow, followed by low refrigerant from a leak. A thermostat set wrong or a failing compressor can also cause this. If the filter looks clean and the vents still blow warm, a licensed contractor needs to check the refrigerant charge, since that means opening the sealed system.
- Why is my AC leaking water?
- Water around your AC usually means the condensate drain line is clogged. The line can fill with algae and dirt over a cooling season and back up, sending water into the house instead of outside. A frozen evaporator coil will also drip once it thaws, so if the system was running low on airflow or refrigerant, that's worth ruling out too.
- Why won't my AC turn on?
- Check the thermostat first. Make sure it's set to cool and the batteries aren't dead, since that stops a lot of units from ever getting the signal to start. If the thermostat looks fine, check the breaker, since a tripped breaker will keep the whole unit dark. Beyond that, the problem is likely the capacitor or the wiring, and a contractor licensed in Oregon will need to look at it and price the repair for your system.