Residential AC Repair in Oxford, Michigan

The capacitor, by a wide margin. It's the part that gives the compressor and fan the jolt they need to start. When it fails, the unit hums but won't kick on, or it runs the fan and blows warm air. Most capacitor jobs run $155 to $350.

Second is the contactor, the electrical switch that lets power through when the thermostat calls for cooling. The contacts burn and pit over time. That one runs $175 to $400.

Both are common enough that our techs carry them on the truck, so these usually get fixed on the first visit.

Same-day service. During a heat wave it can occasionally be the next morning, because everybody's AC quits the same week. We'd rather tell you that up front than promise something we can't hit.

Our techs carry the common parts on the truck, capacitors and contactors especially, so most repairs get finished on the first visit. If it's an older unit that needs a part we don't stock, we have local vendor connections and can usually still get it done the same day.

Usually one of three things. Low refrigerant, which means there's a leak somewhere. Dirty condenser coils, which is common out here on the gravel roads. Or a failing compressor, which is the expensive one.

A dirty filter can also do it, and that one you can check yourself in two minutes before you call anybody.

Sometimes. If it's a capacitor on a unit that's otherwise running fine, fix it. If it's a compressor or a major refrigerant leak on a system that old, you're putting a large repair into equipment near the end of its life.

A quick way to check: multiply the age of the unit by the repair cost. If the answer clears about $5,000, replacement is usually the better buy. A 20-year-old unit with a $300 repair is $6,000 by that math, but a cheap fix on a system that still runs well is still worth doing. We'll give you the real numbers both ways rather than pushing you toward the bigger ticket. See AC replacement options

Sometimes, but there's a catch worth knowing. Financing companies set a minimum on what they'll fund, so smaller repairs usually don't qualify. If your repair is big enough to finance, that's normally the moment to at least price out a replacement.

Once a repair is large enough to need financing on an older system, you're often at the point where that money goes further toward a new unit. We'll walk you through both numbers before you decide.

It might be, and it's the first thing we check. If your unit is still under manufacturer warranty, the parts may be covered and you'd only pay for labor. That can turn a $700 repair into a much smaller bill.

You don't need to dig up paperwork. Tell us the brand and roughly how old the system is and we'll look it up before we quote you.

Yes. We're an authorized Rheem dealer, but we service and repair every major residential brand — Carrier, Trane, Lennox, Goodman, Bryant, American Standard and the rest.