AC Maintenance in Traverse City, MI
Air conditioners here run from July through August, so June is the time for a tune-up. Tell us about your system, and a licensed contractor who covers Grand Traverse County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Two months of work, then a long rest
Your air conditioner in Grand Traverse County only earns its keep in July and August. Summer afternoons here average 78°F, which is not extreme heat, but the unit still sits unused most of the year and has to start up clean when that first warm week arrives.
This area has also logged 17 hail events and 34 damaging wind events over the past ten years, with hail as large as 1.25 inches. That kind of weather can bend the fins on the outdoor coil or knock debris into the cabinet without anything looking wrong from the outside. A tune-up before summer is when a contractor finds a bent coil or a loose connection, before the first hot day finds it instead.
- 2 months
- July through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 78°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 17 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 34 wind events
- in ten years, and wind drives debris into outdoor units
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Book your AC tune-up in June, before homes here start needing cooling in July.
- 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.
Michigan requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The state tests and licenses the contractor, not the individual visit, so the license tells you this business met Michigan's standard, not that this particular job was signed off by anyone.
For a maintenance visit like this, most of the work is a coil check, a look at refrigerant levels, and a check of the electrical connections. If any of that involves opening the refrigerant side of the system, the technician doing it also needs EPA Section 608 certification, which is federal and applies in every state. That certification is what stands behind the refrigerant work itself. The state license is what stands behind the contractor you hired to do it.
Sources: Michigan Legislature · Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs
- What does AC maintenance include?
- A technician checks refrigerant charge, cleans the condenser coil, and tests the capacitor and contactor in the outdoor unit. They also check the evaporator coil, change or check the filter, and look at the condensate drain to make sure it isn't clogged. Electrical connections get tightened and the system runs through a full cooling cycle to see that it starts, runs, and shuts off the way it should.
- How often does an air conditioner need maintenance?
- Once a year, before the season it works hardest. Here that means getting it looked at before July, since your cooling season only runs July through August. A yearly check catches a weak capacitor or a dirty coil before a 78°F afternoon is when you find out the hard way.
- Is AC maintenance worth it?
- Yes, because most of what causes a breakdown shows up on a coil or an electrical connection before it stops the system cold. A technician can catch a failing capacitor or a coil losing airflow while it's still just running less efficiently, not yet dead. With only two months of real cooling need here, a system that isn't checked can go a long time before anyone notices it's struggling, right up until the day it can't keep up.