From the Owner

What Is Included in an AC Tune-Up?

What a full AC tune-up covers

Homeowners ask this constantly, and the honest reason is that the word tune-up is not regulated. Two companies can both sell you one and do very different amounts of work. Below is the scope that a thorough seasonal tune-up on a central air conditioner is generally expected to cover across the trade. It is a useful yardstick to hold any quote against, including mine.

• Run the system in cooling mode. Nothing else on this list means much until the equipment has been running long enough to behave the way it does on a hot afternoon.
• Check refrigerant pressures against the manufacturer's spec. A charge that is slightly off will still produce cold air. It just costs you more every hour the system runs, and low charge is usually a leak rather than something that needs topping off each year.
• Measure the temperature split across the coil. This is the number that tells you whether the system is actually cooling efficiently or just cooling.
• Clean the outdoor condenser coil and clear what is packed around the unit. A coil that cannot shed heat makes the compressor work harder for the same result.
• Check the filter and look for airflow restrictions. Replace or clean it, and note whether the size and type are right for the equipment.
• Inspect and clean the blower assembly. Dust builds up on the blower wheel gradually, and it costs airflow the whole time without ever announcing itself.
• Test the electrical components. Capacitor, contactor, wiring, and connections. A capacitor that is drifting out of tolerance is one of the most common reasons a system quits in July, and it is visible on a meter months before it fails.
• Tighten electrical connections. Heat cycling loosens them over the years.
• Check thermostat calibration and cycling. Plenty of complaints that sound like equipment problems are thermostat problems.
• Clear the condensate drain line. A blocked drain is how a working air conditioner ends up putting water where you do not want it.
• Write down what was found and flag what needs attention. With separate pricing, so a repair is a decision you make rather than something folded into the bill.

What actually changes the outcome

The checklist is the easy part. Two technicians can tick the same boxes and leave behind very different results. In my experience these are the things that make the difference:

• Whether the person doing it is paid to sell. I have no technicians on commission and no bonus structure tied to what gets written up. That is a structural thing, not a promise.
• Time on the system. A real tune-up is not a ten minute visit. If the technician is on a tight schedule with the next appointment already pressing, the cleaning is what gets skipped first, because nobody notices it missing until August.
• The age and history of the equipment. A system that has been serviced every year goes quick. One that has gone a decade without attention has more buildup, more to test, and a much higher chance of turning something up.
• Whether anything gets documented. The first visit gives me a baseline. Every one after that tells me what is changing and how fast, which is how you catch a part that is on its way out before it strands you.
• Whether the findings get explained. A list of parts on an invoice is not an explanation. You should understand what was found, why it matters, and what happens if you wait.

A tune-up in Roseville, start to finish

Here is one from this past April. A homeowner off Bridge Creek Way in Roseville had me out for a routine tune-up on a central air conditioner ahead of the summer. Below are photos from that visit, which is the clearest way I know to show what the work actually involves. Maintenance is one of the HVAC services I do most often, and Roseville is where the largest share of it happens, along with the surrounding neighborhoods I cover.

Two of the photos from that job are the ones I would actually want a homeowner to look at, because they show the part of a tune-up that is invisible from the outside. The blower moves the air through the house, and it collects dust the entire time it does that.

A tune-up should leave your system running better and your wallet alone. If the only thing that comes out of it is a repair quote, something is off. Vitaly, Owner

What my customers say the visit was like

I would rather let the people whose houses I have been in describe it than keep describing it myself. There are more of these on my reviews page.

That second one is the whole point, and it is worth saying plainly: not feeling pressured is not a bonus feature of a tune-up. It is what a tune-up is supposed to be.

What a tune-up is not

Three things worth being straight about, because the answers are not the same everywhere.

It is not a repair

The tune-up covers inspection, testing, and cleaning. If I find a weak capacitor, a refrigerant leak, or a motor on its way out, that is separate work with its own price, and I will show you what I found before I touch it. Repairs I do carry a one year parts and labor warranty.

It is not a subscription

I do not run an annual plan with monthly billing, and I am not going to pretend otherwise to make the math look tidy. Maintenance here works one visit at a time. When I finish, we talk about when you want the next one and I book it before I leave. Some companies do run plans, and there is nothing wrong with that. Mine just is not built that way yet.

It is not a diagnosis of a system that is already broken

If your air conditioner is running but not cooling, short cycling, or making a noise it did not make last year, that is a service call, not a tune-up. Start with why an AC blows warm air if you want to narrow it down before you call.

When to schedule one

Once a year, and spring is the right window, before the valley heat arrives and the equipment starts working hard. If the same system handles your heating, twice a year is better, once before summer and once before winter.

Age is not a reason to skip it. One of my favorite jobs was an eighteen year old system in Citrus Heights that had never been serviced, and the answer was not to replace it. If you want the long version, I wrote it up: an eighteen year old AC and a musty smell. The homeowner put it better than I could:

He explained everything clearly, showed photos, cleaned the unit and replaced a couple of parts. Robin M., Citrus Heights, Google review

If what you are really after is the number, I put the ranges in a separate piece on what an AC tune-up costs around Sacramento and Roseville, along with what pushes the price up or down.

Frequently asked questions

Vitaly, ARC Heating and Air Conditioning