Takes about a minute. No obligation.
Make sure the thermostat is set to cool and the temperature is actually below room temperature. Then check the breaker panel for the outdoor unit and the indoor air handler. A tripped breaker or a thermostat bumped to the wrong setting looks exactly like a dead system, and either one takes a minute to rule out.
Pull the air filter and hold it up to a light. If you can't see light through it, air can't get through it either, and that alone can shut a system down or freeze the coil. Walk outside and look at the condenser too. If the fan isn't spinning or the unit is packed with leaves and dirt, that's worth telling the contractor before they arrive.
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Electricity in Texas ran 14.94 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2024.
A struggling AC pulls more power to do less cooling, and in El Paso that shows up fast.
Cooling runs May through September here, five months of the AC working every day. June through August, the afternoon high averages 95. That means the system is holding a wide gap between inside and outside air for a full season, not just getting through a few hot spells. A capacitor or a contactor wears down faster under that kind of load than it would somewhere milder. So does a compressor that rarely gets long enough between cycles to cool down. If your system is struggling, the heat this summer is probably part of why. A contractor who checks the charge, the electrical components and the airflow will catch what's actually failing, not just what's easiest to replace.
Power costs more here, so a machine that's running badly costs you every month. Get it fixed soon.
Find a contractorHalf the houses here went up in 1988 or later, so a lot of the systems running in them now are newer too. If yours is one of them, there's a good chance it has years left, even if it's acting up right now. A struggling system isn't automatically a dying one. Have a contractor check the charge and the electrical parts before anyone talks about replacing it.
The capacitor gives the compressor and the fan motor the jolt they need to start spinning. It wears down just from cycling on and off, year after year, and heat speeds that up. A failing capacitor shows up as a unit that hums but won't start, or a fan that spins slow. It's one of the most common reasons a system goes quiet.
An AC doesn't use up refrigerant the way a car uses gas. If the charge is low, it's low because it's leaking out somewhere, usually at a coil or a fitting. Adding more without finding the leak just means doing it again later. A contractor checking for low charge should be checking for where it's getting out too.
Estimates for a typical El Paso 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 diagnostic visit starts before any panel comes off. A contractor will ask what the system is doing, whether it's blowing warm air, short cycling, or not running at all, and when it started. Then they'll check the thermostat's call for cooling, the condenser outside, and the air handler inside, in that order, to find where the chain breaks. Gauges go on the refrigerant lines to check the charge, and a meter checks the capacitor and contactor for the readings they should hold. Airflow gets checked too, since a weak return or a clogged filter can mimic a refrigerant problem that isn't really there. By the end, the contractor should be able to point to the one part that's failing and explain why, not just guess at what's easiest to swap.
