AC repair in Vancouver, WA.

AC blowing warm air.

Warm air at the vents is the cooling call we get most, and about a quarter of them end at the thermostat. Before you call, check two free things: the thermostat is set to cool with the setpoint below room temperature, and the outdoor unit has power at the breaker panel and the outdoor disconnect. Those two checks clear roughly 40% of warm-air complaints.

Still warm? The remaining suspects climb in cost from a frozen coil to a refrigerant leak to a failed compressor. Our deep-dive on why your AC is blowing warm air walks all five causes in cost order, with the numbers attached.

An iced-up indoor coil.

Ice on the refrigerant line, or an indoor coil cased in frost, means the coil is running colder than it should. Only two things do that: airflow starvation, usually a clogged filter, blocked returns, or a weakening blower, or a refrigerant charge that has leaked low. Either way the ice insulates the coil and cooling collapses.

Switch cooling off at the thermostat, leave the fan running, and let it thaw on its own. Never chip at it; coil fins bend easily. Swap in a clean filter, and if it ices again, book a diagnostic. A thaw plus proper diagnosis typically runs $80–$400.

Won't turn on, or trips the breaker.

A dead outdoor unit is often something small: a failed capacitor, a stuck contactor, or a condensate float switch doing its job after the drain line clogged. A condenser that hums but won't spin its fan is the classic capacitor tell.

Breaker trips deserve more respect. Reset it once. If it trips again, leave it off and call us, because repeatedly forcing power into a shorted compressor or a seized fan motor can turn a repairable fault into a replacement. We test the circuit before anything gets energized twice.

Weak airflow from the vents.

Your AC borrows the furnace's blower to move air, so weak airflow is often not an AC problem at all: a filter overdue for a change, a blower motor losing capacity, or duct leaks bleeding cold air into the crawlspace. Our guide on how often to change your filter covers the cheapest fix in HVAC; when the blower itself is the fault, that repair lives on our furnace repair page even in July.

Outdoor unit runs, house won't cool.

A condenser humming away while the house stays hot usually points at the refrigerant circuit. Low charge always means a leak, refrigerant doesn't get used up, so we leak-test before we recharge; paying for a top-off without finding the leak just books the same call again next summer. Finding and fixing a leak typically runs $200–$900. The worst case is a failed compressor, generally $1,800–$3,500, and that quote is where the repair-or-replace math below earns its keep.

Diagnosis first, then a written quote.

• 1 · You call. Describe the symptom and we'll tell you the flat trip charge for the diagnostic before we schedule anything. No-cool emergencies get same-day priority when our schedule allows.
• 2 · We test the whole cooling side. Refrigerant pressures, capacitor and electrical readings, temperature split across the coil, airflow. The instruments name the fault so we don't have to guess at it.
• 3 · Numbers in writing. You see the finding and the repair price on paper before we touch a wrench, and the trip charge usually rolls into the job if you go ahead.
• 4 · The fix you approved. When the fault is a worn capacitor, we replace the capacitor and go home. Nobody on this crew earns anything by talking you into more, and you'll never be pushed to sign during a service call.

A note on refrigerants.

Since January 1, 2025, all new AC equipment is manufactured with R-454B refrigerant instead of R-410A. That changes nothing about repairing your existing system: R-410A remains in production for service and industry forecasts show stable availability through at least 2030. What matters is that the two are never mixed, so a leak in an R-410A system gets repaired and recharged with R-410A. The whole changeover is explained in our R-454B transition guide.

Repair or replace: the honest math.

Vancouver's mild summers are gentle on cooling equipment, so a straight AC here typically lasts 15–20 years and most repairs are the right money. When a big quote lands on an older unit, run two quick tests from our guide on how long systems last here: if the fix costs more than half of a comparable new system, or the repair cost times the unit's age tops $5,000, replacement usually wins.

When the math points that way, we'll say so plainly and quote it with no pressure attached. A new AC installed by our crew runs about $7,400–$16,800 depending on size and tier; details are on the AC installation page, or you can see the range instantly with the estimator, or read what AC installation actually costs here. The same two-condition logic applies to heating equipment, covered in when to repair vs replace your furnace.

Cooling from a heat pump instead?

Quick sorting question: is the outdoor unit that cools your house in July the same machine that heats it in January? Then you own a heat pump, not a straight air conditioner, and while the summer symptoms overlap, the hardware and several of the fixes don't. Head to our heat pump repair page instead. Not sure what you have, or the trouble spans more than one piece of equipment? Our all-system HVAC repair page covers everything we fix.

Peak Care members skip the wait.

What a breakdown costs depends a lot on whether we already know your system. Base Camp ($22/mo, billed $269/yr) gets you an annual tune-up, priority scheduling, 10% off all parts and labor, and no trip charges. Ridge ($32/mo, billed $389/yr) adds priority same-day emergency dispatch during business hours, next-morning after hours, plus 15% off parts and labor with no trip, overtime, or diagnostic charges; the Ridge tune-up also covers coil cleaning and a refrigerant leak check. Every plan bills annually and never auto-renews.

Why Pacific Peak for AC repair.

Our crew is direct-hire, no subcontractors, and the company is licensed and bonded in Washington, Lic# PACIFPM742JC. Between our American Standard Authorized Dealer line and our Mitsubishi Diamond Contractor status we get factory training on the brands we install, and we diagnose and repair most other major AC brands on top of that. Meet the people who'll show up on the team page.

AC repair across the metro.

Summer heat doesn't check city limits. From east Vancouver we repair air conditioners in Camas, Battle Ground, Ridgefield, Washougal, Brush Prairie, Portland, and Gresham; details for your town live on the service area page.

Common questions about AC repair.