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Your AC runs from April through October here, and afternoon highs average 95°F through June, July and August. That's a long stretch for a compressor and condenser fan to push against, longer than most of the country asks of them.
Travis County saw 147 hail events between 2015 and 2024. A condenser coil that takes a hit doesn't always show damage right away, but it can run less efficiently afterward. Between the heat and the hail, your system has a lot working against it.
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Half the homes in Travis County were built in 1999 or later.
A system that came with a newer house usually still has life in it, which makes repair the right first call.
March is worth a call if your AC has been iffy. Your system starts working for real in April, and whatever was marginal before that tends to fail in the first real stretch of heat, not later in the season. A capacitor that's been weakening or a contactor with some pitting usually gives out early, once the compressor has to run long and hard day after day. Getting it looked at in March means a tech can work it into their schedule instead of an emergency slot. Wait past April and you're waiting in line with everyone else whose AC picked the same week to quit.
Heat and hail both take a toll on this system, and that's usually what's behind a repair call here. A tech who checks for both before fixing anything gets you a repair that holds.
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Half the homes here were built in 1999 or later, so if yours is one of them, the system was likely sized and installed for that newer house rather than patched into an old one. A newer system is worth repairing. The parts a tech replaces, a capacitor, a contactor, a fan motor, are built to last the system's full run, and there's no reason age should be what decides this call.
The run capacitor holds the charge that gets the compressor and fan motor going and keeps them going. It weakens with heat and age, and when it goes, the fan may spin slow or not at all, or the compressor may hum and trip out. It's the single most common reason a condenser won't start.
Dirt and debris on the condenser coil make the system work harder to shed heat, and that extra strain shortens the life of whatever runs the longest, usually the compressor. The contactor, which switches power to the compressor and fan, pits and burns from years of making and breaking that connection until it sticks or stops closing at all.
Estimates for a typical Travis County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Texas 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.
A repair is worth doing when it fixes one part and the rest of the system is sound. A new capacitor or contactor on a compressor that still runs strong and quiet is money well spent. Replacement starts to make more sense when the compressor itself is failing, since that's the most expensive part to swap and the one the rest of the system is built around. Age matters less than how the system has been running. One that's been reliable and just had a part give out is a different case than one that's needed a tech out every season. If a tech finds the coil clean, the refrigerant charge correct, and the failure isolated to one component, repair holds up. If the compressor is drawing hard, tripping its breaker, or losing refrigerant through a leak that's hard to find, that's the point to ask about replacing the unit instead of chasing the next failure.
