What it is
The outdoor unit's whole job is releasing the heat it pulled from your house. Cottonwood, grass clippings and dust mat into the fins and the heat has nowhere to go, so the system works harder and cools less.
What you would notice
- The outdoor unit is visibly filthy or overgrown
- It runs constantly on hot days and gives up entirely on the hottest ones
- Bills climbing without a change in habits
Can you do this yourself?
You can do this
Cutting the power at the disconnect and rinsing the outdoor coil from the inside out with a hose is genuinely homeowner work. Use a fin-safe cleaner, not a pressure washer, and keep two feet clear around the unit.
What to say when you call
Red flags
- A several-hundred-dollar coil cleaning sold as a repair
- Refrigerant added on a day when the real problem was airflow
The call-out alone runs $100–$250 before any work, plus $40–80/hr on top, evenings and weekends. A whole new system is $3,800–$7,500 — compare every quote to that.
Where these numbers come from
- Cleaning is typically bundled into a tune-up; the range reflects tune-up pricing
Did it turn out to be this?
Nobody has ever published how often an AC call turns out to be something cheap — the best figure available anywhere is one company's marketing page. So we are building it. No account, no email, and your ZIP is cut to three digits before it is sent.
← Every AC repair, with both numbers
Get a plan for your exact situation
The free FixAC First-Aid wizard turns your symptom, system age, and ZIP into safe step-by-step checks — plus a briefing on what a fair repair should cost.