By Labor Day, an air conditioner in Gillespie or Kerr County has put in a season most systems in this country never see. Four months of afternoons in the high 90s, plenty of them past 100, with the compressor running most of the daylight hours and a good share of the night. Nothing breaks on the first hot day. Things break in September, October, and on the first cold morning in November, because that is when the wear from summer finally shows up. The crews at 72 Degrees Air Conditioning, Heating, and Plumbing have been closing out Hill Country cooling seasons since 1986, and the fall visit is consistently the cheapest one a homeowner ever books.

What Actually Wears Out Over a Hill Country Summer?

Runtime is the thing. A system in a milder climate might log 800 hours of cooling a year. Here it is routinely double that, and every one of those hours is spent moving heat out of a house into air that is already 100 degrees. Parts do not fail from age so much as from cycles and heat, and both run high here.

Capacitors drift before they die

The run capacitor is the single most common summer casualty, and it is a slow failure, not a sudden one. Rated capacitance drifts downward under heat until the compressor and fan motor are starting hard on every cycle. The homeowner notices nothing; a meter notices immediately. Catching a weak capacitor in October is a small part. Catching it in July is a Saturday emergency call with a compressor that may not have survived the summer of hard starts.

Contactors pit and stick

Every time your system cycles, the contactor slams closed and carries the full load to the outdoor unit. After a Hill Country summer’s worth of cycles, the contacts are pitted, sometimes to the point of welding themselves closed or arcing enough to burn. This is a cheap part with expensive consequences.

The condenser coil is packed with everything that blew past it

Cedar and oak pollen in the spring, caliche dust off county roads all summer, cottonwood fluff, grass clippings, and whatever the wind pushed off a ranch road. A coil that looks clean from three feet away is often loaded a quarter inch deep between the fins. That insulation forces head pressure up, which drives energy use up and compressor life down.

The condensate drain has been wet since April

Five months of continuous condensate is five months of algae and biological slime growing in a dark PVC line. Most drain-line backups do not happen in June. They happen in September, when the accumulated growth finally bridges the pipe, trips the float switch, and shuts the system off — or worse, does not trip anything and finds your ceiling instead.

Why Is Fall the Right Time to Deal With This?

Two reasons, and the second one surprises people.

The first is scheduling. In September and October, we can be at your house this week, at a normal rate, with time to actually look at the system rather than triage it. In July, every HVAC company between Boerne and Mason is booked out and working overtime, and a part that is a routine replacement in the fall becomes a no-cool emergency in the summer.

The second is that in most Hill Country homes, the cooling season does not really end — it changes direction. If you have a heat pump, and a growing share of homes here do, that same outdoor unit you just ran all summer is the thing that will heat your house in December. It does not get a five-month rest the way a gas furnace does. Whatever summer did to that compressor, contactor, and coil follows it straight into heating season.

What Should a Fall Checkup Cover?

A real end-of-season visit is a measurement appointment, not a look-and-nod. Here is what belongs on the list:

  • Capacitor and contactor testing under load — actual microfarad readings against the nameplate rating, plus a look at contact condition, so a drifting part is replaced before it takes a motor with it.
  • Refrigerant charge verified by superheat and subcooling — not a gauge glance. A charge that is slightly low after a hard summer is often the first evidence of a small leak, and small leaks are much cheaper to find than dead compressors.
  • Condenser coil cleaning — a proper wash from the inside out, which is the only direction that actually moves the season’s debris back out of the fins.
  • Condensate drain flush and float switch test — clear the line, confirm the safety switch actually kills the system when it should, and check the secondary pan if the air handler is in the attic.
  • Blower wheel and evaporator coil inspection — a loaded blower wheel quietly costs you a large share of your airflow, and airflow is the thing that determines whether the rest of the system can do its job.
  • Electrical connections and amp draws — heat cycling loosens terminals over a long season, and a compressor pulling above its rated amps tells you something before it tells you loudly.

What If the Checkup Finds Something Big?

Sometimes it does. A system that limped through August, that needed refrigerant twice, that runs constantly and still leaves the back of the house warm — that system is telling you something, and fall is the right moment to hear it.

The advantage of finding out in September is that you have options and a calendar. You can get a proper load calculation, look at whether the ductwork is part of the problem, compare a straight AC replacement against a heat pump that would also cover your heating, and sort out financing without a 102-degree house pushing the decision. Homeowners who find out in July generally take whatever can be installed fastest.

Can You Pair It With Heating Season Prep?

You should. The gap between the last day you need cooling and the first night you need heat is short here, and it is often the same equipment either way. One visit can close out the cooling season and open the heating one: AC maintenance on the way out, furnace or heat pump maintenance on the way in, one trip, one appointment.

Our Care Club members get this rhythm handled for them — seasonal visits scheduled automatically, priority when the first cold snap fills everyone’s board, and no dispatch fee when something does need attention. The point of the plan is that nobody has to remember to call in the fall, which is exactly when it is easiest to forget.

Frequently Asked Questions

My AC worked fine all summer. Do I still need a fall checkup?

“Worked fine” and “is in good shape” are different statements. A capacitor at 70 percent of rated capacitance cools your house perfectly well and is quietly beating up your compressor on every start. A coil packed with dust cools your house and raises your electric bill by a noticeable margin. The whole reason to check in the fall is that the problems worth catching do not announce themselves while the system is still running.

How late in the year can I run my AC here?

Later than most people expect. It is not unusual to need cooling into late October in Fredericksburg or Kerrville, and a warm afternoon in November is hardly a shock. That is fine — nothing about a fall service visit takes your cooling offline. If a warm spell shows up after your appointment, the system runs.

Should I cover my outdoor unit for the winter?

Not with a full wrap, and definitely not if you have a heat pump — that unit runs all winter and needs airflow. Even with a straight AC and gas furnace, a sealed cover traps moisture and gives rodents an attractive place to spend the winter. If falling pecans or oak debris are a problem, a top-only cover is the most you want.

Get Your System Looked At Before the Season Turns

Summer already told us what it did to your system. A fall visit is just the part where somebody reads the report. Schedule AC maintenance, add a heating checkup to the same trip, or contact 72 Degrees if something about this season has you wondering. We take care of homes across Fredericksburg, Kerrville, Boerne, and every town in between, and we would rather see your system now than at 6 p.m. on the first hundred-degree day next June.