AC Maintenance in Shreveport, LA
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 Caddo Parish will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Six months of Shreveport heat wears on a system that never gets a break
From May through October your air conditioner is working, and on a lot of those afternoons it is pushing against 93°F outside just to hold the house steady. That is six straight months without a real rest, and the parts that keep the system running, the compressor, the capacitor, the fan motor, all take the strain of it.
Caddo Parish also sees its share of hail and wind, with 101 hail events and 279 damaging wind events over the past ten years. Hailstones up to 3 inches have been recorded here, and that kind of impact can bend the fins on an outdoor coil or knock the unit out of alignment without you knowing it happened. A tune-up is when a contractor checks the coil, the refrigerant charge, and the electrical connections, the kind of things that get missed until the system stops cooling on the hottest day of the year.
- 6 months
- May through October, your air conditioner is on duty
- 93°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 101 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 279 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.
Louisiana requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors tests and records the contractor, not the individual job. So the license attached to the business doing your maintenance is the same one they would carry to any address in the state, and the board has a record of who they are and that they passed.
For a maintenance visit, the part that matters most is whatever gets opened up on the refrigerant side, the coil, the lines. Any technician who does that, anywhere in the country, has to hold EPA Section 608 certification. That is separate from the state license and it is what covers that specific work.
Source: Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors
- What does AC maintenance include?
- A technician checks the refrigerant charge, cleans the condenser coil outside, and tests the capacitor and contactor that get the compressor running. They also check the coolant lines, clear the condensate drain so it doesn't back up, and look at electrical connections for wear. Anyone opening the refrigerant side of the system has to hold EPA Section 608 certification, since that's federal law everywhere. Your filter gets checked too, though that's usually something you can handle between visits.
- How often does an air conditioner need maintenance?
- Once a year, ideally in spring before the heat sets in. Shreveport runs its air conditioners May through October, six months of the year, with summer afternoons averaging 93°F. That's a long stretch of hard use, and a spring check catches a weak capacitor or a dirty coil before it fails on a 93 degree day instead of during it.
- Is AC maintenance worth it?
- Yes, and in Shreveport there's a specific reason for it. The area has seen 279 damaging wind events and 101 hail events over the past ten years, with hail up to 3 inches recorded. That kind of weather puts extra strain on the outdoor unit and its coil, so a yearly check is a chance to catch a bent fin or a loose connection before it turns into a breakdown. Regular maintenance also keeps the system running the way it was built to, which matters most during the six months a year it can't get a break.