AC Maintenance in Savannah, GA
Air conditioners here run from May through October, so April is the time for a tune-up. Tell us about your system, and a licensed contractor who covers Chatham County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Six months of Savannah heat wears on your AC
Your air conditioner runs from May through October here, six months of the year. On afternoons that average 91°F, it is not cycling on and off. It is running long stretches just to hold the temperature you set.
That kind of runtime wears on the parts that keep it running. Refrigerant charge drifts low. The condenser coil outside collects dirt and grime that make it work harder to shed heat. A tune-up checks the charge, cleans the coil, and catches a weak capacitor or a failing contactor before it leaves you without cooling on a 91-degree afternoon.
- 6 months
- May through October, your air conditioner is on duty
- 91°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 32 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 246 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Book your AC tune-up in April, before homes here start needing cooling in May.
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
A tune-up checks the refrigerant charge, cleans the coils, tests the capacitor and tightens the electrical connections.
Georgia requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The State Construction Industry Licensing Board is the one that tests and licenses HVAC contractors in Georgia, and the license belongs to the contractor, not to each job they do. That means the person or company coming to work on your air conditioner in Chatham County has been tested and is on record with the state, whether the job is a repair, an install, or a maintenance visit.
Maintenance on an air conditioner usually means checking the coil, the refrigerant charge, and the electrical connections, and if the technician opens the refrigerant side of the system at all, federal law requires them to hold EPA Section 608 certification, no matter what state they work in. That certification is separate from the state license. It exists because refrigerant is federally regulated, and it applies on top of whatever Georgia already requires of the contractor.
Source: Georgia Secretary of State
- What does AC maintenance include?
- A technician checks refrigerant charge, cleans the condenser coil, and tests the capacitor and contactor in the outdoor unit. Inside, they check the evaporator coil, clear the condensate drain line, and change or check the filter. They also check the thermostat and confirm the system cycles on and shuts off the way it should. Anyone opening the refrigerant side of the system needs EPA Section 608 certification, so this part of the job always goes to a licensed contractor.
- How often does an air conditioner need maintenance?
- Once a year, before the season it works hardest. Here that means getting it checked before May, since the system runs from May through October with summer afternoons averaging 91°F. A yearly check catches a weak capacitor or a low refrigerant charge before it fails on a hot afternoon.
- Is AC maintenance worth it?
- Yes, because most breakdowns trace back to something a technician could have caught, a dirty coil, a failing capacitor, a clogged drain line. A system that runs six months a year here gets worn parts sooner than one that runs a few weeks. Savannah also sees hail and wind, 32 hail events and 246 damaging wind events over the past ten years, so a yearly check is also a chance to look at the outdoor unit for storm damage before it turns into a bigger repair.