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Cooling · Repair & InstallAC repair & installation
AC repair in Burlington, Oakville and Hamilton runs $150–$800, and the three most common failures — a capacitor, a contactor, a clogged condensate drain — are fixed in one visit for $150–$450. Past 12 years old, we quote the repair beside a new 16 SEER2 install at $4,500–$5,800 and let the math decide.
An air conditioner has few parts that fail, and they fail in a known order: the run capacitor first, cooked by summers against a south-facing brick wall; then the contactor, whose pitted contacts cause no-starts; then the condensate drain, which grows algae and backs up beside the furnace; then the condenser fan motor; and last the compressor. Truck stock covers the first four, which is why most AC repairs end the visit they started.
The housing era predicts the call. Builder-grade condensers in Alton Village, Joshua Creek and Binbrook were the cheapest unit that met 2005 code and are losing fan motors and boards at 15–20 years. The 1990s R-22 machines in Millcroft and Stoney Creek make every leak a replacement conversation. And each June, cottonwood fluff off the creek valleys mats condenser coils across Halton until airflow chokes — AC repair in Burlington spikes with it.
The repair visit is the $90–$150 diagnostic first: capacitor microfarads against the rating printed on the can, contactor faces, refrigerant pressures with superheat and subcooling, the drain trap, compressor amp draw. The fault gets named and the price written before anything is replaced. A capacitor or contactor runs $150–$350, a fan motor $300–$700, a control board $400–$800, a leak repair with recharge $300–$800+.
Repair-or-replace uses the 5,000 rule: repair cost times the unit's age in years — past roughly 5,000, replacement usually wins (is a 10-year-old AC worth repairing?). A new unit goes in over one day: level pad or an elevated stand where the roof sheds snow, matched indoor coil, new line set where the old one can't serve an R-32 or R-454B unit, nitrogen test, deep vacuum, charge weighed in. A 16 SEER2 2.5-ton system is $4,500–$5,800 installed, a two-stage 3-ton $5,500–$7,000.
Call us when
- Warm air at the registers while the outdoor unit hums — often a capacitor or fan motor
- Ice on the refrigerant lines or indoor coil — shut cooling off and let it thaw before we arrive
- The outdoor unit clicks, tries to start and gives up — a contactor or a hard-starting compressor
- Water around the furnace in summer — a blocked condensate drain or a failed pump
- The AC breaker trips more than once a season
How it works
Tell us what it's doing and roughly how old it is — the serial on the model plate dates it. If the coil is iced, we'll have you thaw it so the technician can test instead of wait.
Capacitor, contactor, pressures, drain and amp draw, checked in that order; the fault named and the price written before any part is changed, diagnostic folded in if you proceed.
Most repairs finish from truck stock. If replacement wins the math, you get 16 SEER2 and two-stage options side by side with financing figures — no pressure either way. Request a quote.
Brands: All major brands repaired: Lennox, Carrier, Trane, Goodman, Rheem, Daikin, York, Mitsubishi and more.
Common questions
Why is my AC freezing up?
Ice means the evaporator coil is running below zero: airflow across it is too low — clogged filter, blocked return, dying blower — or the charge is low from a leak. Switch cooling off, run the fan to thaw it, change the filter, restart. If ice returns within days there's a leak to find; why an AC freezes up covers the causes.
Do you top up refrigerant?
Only after finding the leak. A top-up on a leaking system is renting cold air by the month — the gas leaves again and the bill repeats. A basic leak check is part of the diagnostic, and on a 15-year-old R-22 machine the refrigerant's price makes the repair-versus-replace math short.
When is the best time to replace an AC in Halton?
April to early June, or September. Shoulder-season installs get first pick of dates, the system is commissioned before the first humidex wave, and you decide without the house at 30°C. Mid-heat-wave replacement happens, but you take the unit and date available — see when to buy an air conditioner.
Where can the condenser go?
Clear of decks and fences, with free air on all sides and room above for the fan discharge, and out from under rooflines that shed snow and ice. Side-yard placements also carry municipal setback and noise rules — AC placement rules in Ontario covers them.
Why is my AC leaking water inside?
The indoor coil sheds litres of condensate on a humid lakeshore afternoon, and it all leaves through one drain. When algae blocks the trap, the pan overflows beside the furnace. Clearing or replacing the trap runs $150–$350; a new condensate pump installed is $250–$450, and a finished basement with no floor drain nearby should add a float switch that stops the AC before the spill.