AC Repair in Los Angeles
Air conditioning down? We diagnose the actual fault, give you a fixed price before touching anything, and fix it properly — so you are not calling someone else about the same problem next month.
What is your air conditioner doing?
Find your symptom below. Some of these you should switch off before we arrive — running the system through them is what turns a small repair into a big one.
Blowing air, but it is not cold
Refrigerant charge, a failed capacitor, or an outdoor unit that is not running at all.
Runs all day and never cools the house
Usually airflow — crushed ducts, a clogged filter or a dirty outdoor coil. Often not refrigerant at all.
Thermostat screen is blank
Lost control power, most often from a blocked drain tripping a safety switch or a blown fuse.
Ice on the pipes or indoor unit
Low airflow or low refrigerant. Switch it off and let it thaw before anyone looks at it.
Outdoor unit hums, fan does not spin
Usually a failed capacitor or a seized fan motor. Cheap to fix, expensive to ignore.
Grinding, screeching or rattling
Motor bearings failing, or loose hardware. Running it through this stage is what turns it into a big repair.
Breaker trips when the AC starts
Often a struggling compressor or a shorted motor winding. Stop resetting the breaker.
Water around the indoor unit or a ceiling stain
Blocked condensate drain or a failed pan. The equipment damage is minor; the water damage is not.
Turns on and off every few minutes
Short cycling. Oversized equipment, a restricted filter, low charge, or a thermostat in the wrong spot.
What a repair visit includes
Every visit starts with a full diagnostic rather than a guess at the most likely part. You get a fixed price before any work begins.
If we find something that will fail soon, we will tell you — and we will also tell you if it can safely wait.
- ✓ Full diagnostic — we find the cause, not just the symptom
- ✓ Airflow, temperature and refrigerant all checked, in that order
- ✓ Electrical components tested against their ratings
- ✓ Condensate drain and safety switch verified
- ✓ A clear explanation of what failed and why
- ✓ Fixed price before any work starts
Why the order of testing matters
Most repeat AC repairs happen because someone tested refrigerant first. It is the fastest thing to check and the easiest thing to sell, and on a system with an airflow problem it gives a completely misleading answer.
So we work in a fixed order: airflow first, then temperature, then refrigerant. A system starved of air will produce refrigerant readings that look like an undercharge, and charging it to "fix" that leaves you with two faults instead of one.
Where conditions allow, we verify charge using the California Energy Commission's standard procedure — the same one used for Title 24 compliance. It takes longer than putting gauges on and guessing, and it is the reason our repairs tend to hold.
Repair or replace?
Usually worth repairing
- Capacitors, contactors and relays
- Fan motors on an otherwise sound system
- Blocked drains and failed safety switches
- Thermostat and control faults
- An accessible leak on equipment under about twelve years old
Worth talking through first
- Compressor failure past roughly twelve years
- Major repairs on systems still using R-22
- A coil that has already been repaired once
- A system that has never cooled properly since installation
- Cases where a heat pump would cover heating too
If your system has never cooled well since day one, no repair will fix that — it is a sizing or duct problem, and it needs a different conversation.
Want to understand what went wrong?
Our engineering team writes these up in full. They are the detail behind the diagnostic above.
Why Is My Air Conditioner Freezing Up in the Summer?
Ice on your AC almost always means one of two things, and running it that way makes the damage worse.
Read the article →The 'Static Pressure' Secret: Why Your HVAC System is Suffocating
The most common reason an AC runs all day without cooling has nothing to do with refrigerant.
Read the article →The AC 'Temperature Split' Test: How We Know Your System is Failing
One measurement tells you whether your system is actually working. Here is how to read it.
Read the article →AC Repair FAQs
Why is my AC running but not blowing cold air?
The most common causes are low refrigerant, a failed capacitor, or an outdoor unit that is not running at all. It is worth checking your outdoor unit is actually spinning before you call, because that single detail narrows the diagnosis considerably for us.
Why does my AC run all day without cooling the house?
More often airflow than refrigerant. Crushed ducts, a clogged filter, closed vents or a dirty outdoor coil all stop a perfectly healthy system from cooling. It is the single most misdiagnosed complaint we see, and topping up refrigerant will not fix it.
Should I just top off my AC with refrigerant?
An air conditioner is sealed and does not consume refrigerant, so if it is low there is a leak somewhere. Adding more without finding it means paying again next summer while the compressor runs undercharged in the meantime, which is how leaks become replacements.
Why is my AC freezing up in summer?
Either airflow is restricted or the refrigerant charge is low, and both drop the coil below freezing. Switch the system off and run the fan alone so the ice can melt. Running it while frozen risks damaging the compressor, which is the expensive part.
My breaker trips when the AC starts. Should I keep resetting it?
No. A breaker tripping on startup usually means something is drawing far more current than it should, and each reset sends that fault current through the failing component again. Leave it off and book a diagnostic — this one genuinely gets worse with repetition.
How much does AC repair cost?
It depends entirely on what failed. Capacitors, contactors and drain clearances sit at the affordable end. Compressor work is at the other. We give you a fixed price after diagnosis and before any work starts, so there are no surprises on the invoice.
Is it worth repairing an older air conditioner?
Usually yes for electrical parts, drains and fan motors, even on older equipment. It becomes a real conversation when a compressor fails on a system past about twelve years, or on anything still running the discontinued R-22 refrigerant, where repair approaches replacement cost.
How quickly can you come out?
Call us and we will tell you honestly what we can do. If you describe the symptoms and what your system is doing, we can often work out what is likely wrong before arriving, which usually means bringing the right part on the first visit.
What should I check before calling for AC repair?
Three things that cost nothing. Is the thermostat set to cool and calling for it, is the filter clean, and is the outdoor unit actually running. Occasionally that solves it outright, and when it does not, it tells us a great deal.
Get it fixed properly
Tell us what your system is doing and what has already been done to it. Previous repairs are often the most useful clue we get.