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central air conditioner: the house never gets cool
The checks that cost nothing come first in the source's own ranking: a filter you cannot see light through, a thermostat left in fan-only, and a breaker that tripped in a storm. Thermostat set wrong or left in fan-only: 10 minutes, no part needed [S2] — the first of 3 causes on this page that need no part at all. On a central air conditioner the complaint is the house never gets cool, and it arrives in these words: the air from the vents is not cold, the system runs all day and the house stays warm, the outside unit hums but does not start, the vents blow weakly or the unit freezes up and then stops cooling. Until that check comes back clean, every price below is premature — the completed repairs behind this symptom run $279–$849 [S2], against a replacement from $3,444.
157 of the 2,523 completed jobs in that dataset [S1] sit behind the counts above. Each figure is the source's own median invoice - parts, labour and the service call together, never the part alone.
What each fix costs
Cause
Cost
Time
DIY?
clogged air filter
not priced
5 min
easy
thermostat set wrong or left in fan-only
no part needed
10 min
easy
tripped breaker or a tripped outside disconnect
no part needed
10 min
easy
frozen evaporator coil
no part needed
150 min
easy
dirty condenser coils
$149–$279 installed
45 min
easy
failed dual-run capacitor
$242–$286 installed
30 min
moderate
failed condenser fan motor
$665–$807 installed
90 min
advanced
refrigerant leak or a low charge
$1,394 installed
120 min
advanced
failing compressor
$2,055–$2,676 installed
240 min
pro
A technician visit starts with a diagnostic fee of $0 [S2]. Completed repairs run $279–$849 [S2].
the vents blow weaklythe air from the vents is not cold
S2 puts this first and gives it a share: a clogged filter is about 30 percent of the no-cool calls it runs, and it is the one cause that gets worse on a schedule, because Tampa humidity loads a filter faster than a dry climate. The test needs no tool - pull the filter and try to see light through it. Its intervals are 30 to 60 days in general and every two to three weeks from February through May, when oak pollen alone can coat a one-inch filter; the brand it names as the balance between airflow and filtration is MERV 8 to 11. A filter that is left in place starves the blower, drops the evaporator coil below freezing and produces the next cause on this list.
no source prices the filter itself; S2's own cost lines start at the capacitor, so the filter is a cost the reader brings rather than a published figure, and neither source claims one.
the system runs all day and the house stays warmthe air from the vents is not cold
The free one, and the one S2 sees after every power cut and every visit from guests: mode left on heat or off, or the fan switch left on ON so the blower runs continuously without the outdoor unit. Set the mode to cool, the fan to auto and the temperature three to five degrees below the room, then wait ten minutes. S2 adds the delay rule that protects the machine rather than the diagnosis - wait at least three minutes before restarting the system after switching it off, so refrigerant pressure can equalise before the compressor starts again.
tripped breaker or a tripped outside disconnect [S2]
high likelihoodeasyno part neededabout 10 min
the outside unit hums but does not startthe system runs all day and the house stays warm
The signature is that the indoor fan still blows while the outdoor unit sits silent, which is what a dead condenser circuit looks like from inside the house. S2's instruction is to check the panel for a tripped 30 to 50 amp breaker labelled for the air conditioner and reset it firmly, and then to check the disconnect box next to the outdoor unit, which is the one everybody forgets. If it trips again immediately, stop and call: a breaker that will not hold is telling you about the compressor or the wiring, and resetting it repeatedly is how the cheap fault becomes the expensive one.
high likelihoodeasy$149–$279 installedabout 45 min
the system runs all day and the house stays warmthe air from the vents is not cold
Tampa's version of this fault is a seasonal one, and S2 names the two ingredients: oak pollen in spring and storm debris through the summer pack the outdoor coil fins, and the source measures the result as a 15 to 20 percent cut in heat rejection before the household notices anything at all. If the unit is visibly covered, the owner's step is a garden hose from the top down - not a pressure washer, which folds the fins over. Professional coil cleaning is $149-279 with a chemical flush, a rinse and fin straightening, and S2 says this is the single biggest culprit in both of its failure windows (late May to mid-June and mid-August to early September).
priced as a service rather than a part - $149-279 with a chemical flush, a rinse and fin straightening, or a garden hose at no cost - so no part price is claimed
the unit freezes up and then stops coolingthe vents blow weakly
The thaw is the owner's job and the cause behind it is not, which is why S2 gives the procedure and the stop condition in the same paragraph: switch the cooling off, set the fan to ON and let room-temperature air clear the ice, then replace the filter before cooling is switched back on. Do not run cooling while the coil is frozen - the source is explicit that this strains the compressor and can send liquid refrigerant back to it. Its own card gives two to three hours for the thaw and its answer section gives 60 to 90 minutes for the same job; both are left as published. If it freezes again, the cause is airflow or charge, and that is a technician's visit rather than a longer thaw.
high likelihoodmoderate$242–$286 installedabout 30 minn=93 completed jobs[S1]
the outside unit hums but does not startthe system runs all day and the house stays warm
S1 is direct about this being the most common repair in its market, and the shape of its own data supports the claim: 93 completed capacitor replacements against 39 fan motors, 14 compressors and 11 recharges. The failure looks like a unit that hums, clicks or tries to start and gives up, because the capacitor is what gives the compressor and the fan motor their starting torque. The published middle half is $242-286 with a $269 median, the part is $30-90 of that and the labour is 10 to 20 minutes; the source's own price list prints a higher band ($279-349) for the same job, and its advice is the useful part - if you are quoted more than $400 for a capacitor on a system that starts up fine afterwards, ask for an itemised breakdown. S2's warning belongs beside it: a capacitor left failing strains the compressor, and the compressor is the one repair on this page that costs more than half a new system.
the source prices the fitted job rather than the part: the capacitor itself is $30-90 of the invoice and the job is 10 to 20 minutes of skilled labour, which is why the published band covers both and why no part-only figure is claimed here
medium likelihoodadvanced$665–$807 installedabout 90 minn=39 completed jobs[S1]
the outside unit hums but does not startthe system runs all day and the house stays warm
The second most common repair in S1's records: 39 replacements over 24 months at a $737 median, middle half $665-807 and a full range of $499-1,464. The part is $200-450 depending on whether a universal motor is used or the original manufacturer's, and the labour is 45 to 90 minutes because the job includes disassembly, matching the wiring colours, verifying the speed under load and pairing the motor with the right capacitor. A failed fan motor usually arrives as the same complaint as a failed capacitor, so the diagnosis is what separates them - which is the argument for the $0 visit this publisher offers rather than a part bought on a guess.
the source publishes the part range ($200-450, universal or original manufacturer's) but the band beside the job count is the fitted repair, including 45 to 90 minutes of work, and that is what is claimed here
medium likelihoodadvanced$1,394 installedabout 120 minn=11 completed jobs[S1]
the air from the vents is not coldthe unit freezes up and then stops cooling
S1's invoice row for a refrigerant recharge is a $1,394 median across 11 completed jobs, and it names the reason a recharge is not a service in itself: the source's fault page prices leak detection with a repair at $449-849 on top of the refrigerant, at $95 a pound in its own pricebook, and it makes R-410A pricing part of that figure ($150-200 a pound at distributor level). The two pages therefore measure different things - one invoice for a recharge, one price list for finding and sealing the leak - and neither is a recharge alone. What both agree on is the pattern that matters: a system eight years or older in salt air, running constantly without getting cold, with ice forming on the copper, is losing charge rather than short of it.
the row is a completed recharge invoice, not a part price: the source prices the refrigerant itself at $95 a pound in its own pricebook and $150-200 a pound at distributor level, and it prices finding and sealing the leak separately, so neither of those is claimed as the price of this cause
the outside unit hums but does not startthe air from the vents is not cold
The one repair on this page that is a decision rather than a diagnosis: a $2,312 median across 14 completed replacements, middle half $2,055-2,676, and a range that runs from $459 on a warranty job to $5,748. S1's own advice is the whole argument - if you are quoted $2,300 for a compressor on a system ten or more years old and out of warranty, do the arithmetic against a full replacement, because a heat pump install in the same records is a $4,493 median across 17 jobs with a ten-year warranty, a new coil, a new refrigerant lineset and rebate eligibility. The source's fault page puts the same job on its price list at $1,200-2,200, below what its own invoices show, and applies the rule that follows from it: repair above 50 percent of replacement cost on a system twelve or more years old is where replacement wins.
priced as a fitted replacement, not as a part: the source publishes no compressor-only figure, and the range it does publish is the completed job, from $459 on a warranty claim to $5,748
Repair or replace?
Work the free checks first, because a not-cooling call is more often airflow or a switch than a part: a filter you cannot see light through, a thermostat left in fan-only, a breaker or an outside disconnect that tripped in a storm. Past those the price list is narrow at the bottom and brutal at the top - a capacitor is $269 across 93 invoices and a condenser fan motor $737 across 39, while a compressor is $2,312 across 14, which is above half the price of a full install at a $4,493 median across 17. That is the whole decision on this machine: coils, capacitors, fan motors and leaks are repairs at any age, and a compressor on a system past its twelfth year is a down payment on a new one rather than a repair. Ask for the itemised breakdown before authorising anything above $400, which is advice the source gives itself, and never pay for a part before the diagnosis has separated a capacitor from a fan motor from a compressor, because all three arrive as the same complaint. [S2]
Two kinds of figure appear on this page and they are not the same measurement. The completed-invoice figures - the capacitor at $269 across 93 jobs, the fan motor at $737 across 39, the compressor at $2,312 across 14, the recharge at $1,394 across 11, and the 157 jobs they add up to out of the 2,523 in that dataset - are paid invoices. The repair band above, and the per-cause bands where a cause says installed, come from the same publisher's own price list for a not-cooling call, which is what a quote looks like before the work is done. Where the two disagree (the capacitor is $269 on the invoices and $279-349 on the price list; the compressor is $2,312 on the invoices and $1,200-2,200 on the price list) both are shown and neither is blended. The four per-service counts are separate rows of one dataset and are never added to anything outside it.
The half-of-new-price line falls near $1,720-2,680 against a full install whose middle half runs $3,444-5,359, and the compressor median of $2,312 sits inside it. Everything else on this page is comfortably below it: a $269 capacitor, a $737 fan motor, a $1,394 recharge. The useful reading is therefore not the average repair on a not-cooling call but which of the nine causes you have, because the difference between the cheapest part on the list and the dearest is a factor of eight, and the free checks are what tell them apart.
S2 is explicit about the age at which its own advice turns: repair above 50 percent of replacement cost on a system twelve or more years old, and it describes a failing compressor as usual on twelve-year-old systems in this market. Its compressor advice uses ten years as the point to start comparing against a full replacement rather than repairing. No source cited here publishes a measured service life for the equipment, so the decision below uses the twelve-year threshold the publisher works to and says that is what it is.
[S1]Home Therapist Cooling, Heating and Plumbing (Tampa Bay; own Housecall Pro records, 2,523 completed service visits, published under CC-BY-4.0 30 April 2026, last updated 30 July 2026) (2026-04-30). the invoice rows this page's counts come from: AC capacitor replacement $269 across 93 jobs (cheapest job $215, 25th percentile $242, median $269, 75th percentile $286, most expensive $4,046) with the year-by-year medians the source also prints ($269 in 2024, $260 in 2025, $279 in 2026); condenser fan motor $737 across 39 jobs with the middle half at $665-807 and a range of $499-1,464; compressor replacement $2,312 across 14 jobs with the middle half at $2,055-2,676 and a range from $459 under warranty to $5,748; refrigerant recharge $1,394 across 11 jobs; and the replacement row the decision uses, a full heat pump install at a $4,493 median across 17 jobs with the middle half at $3,444-5,359 (equipment, lineset, electrical work, permits and inspection included); the source's own part prices and labour times (capacitor parts $30-90 and a 10 to 20 minute job, fan motor parts $200-450 and a 45 to 90 minute job, R-410A at $150-200 a pound at distributor level); its statement that the capacitor is the most common AC repair in the market, that its price has held steady across three years, and that a quote above $400 for a simple capacitor on a system which starts up afterwards should be itemised; the age test it applies to a compressor quote (ten or more years old and out of warranty, measured against a full install); the method behind the dataset (2,523 completed visits, $4,138,649 of customer-paid work, 135 ZIP codes, 24 technicians, 10 May 2024 to 30 April 2026, customer-paid totals between $50 and $50,000, free diagnostic visits excluded, CC-BY-4.0); the statement that the seventeen published service rows do not sum to the 2,523; and the internal inconsistency it leaves as published, where the summary table prints a $4,493 heat pump median and the page's opening paragraph prints $4,492
[S2]Home Therapist Cooling, Heating and Plumbing (Tampa Bay; FL licences CAC1819196 and CFC1431159; page published 18 April 2026, last reviewed 18 September 2026) (2026-04-18). the seven causes in the order the company ranks them (clogged air filter, thermostat set wrong, tripped outside-unit breaker, frozen evaporator coil, low refrigerant from a leak, dirty condenser coils, failing compressor) with what each one looks and sounds like; its estimate that a clogged filter accounts for about 30 percent of no-cool calls, the MERV 8-11 range it names and the filter intervals it gives (30 to 60 days, and every two to three weeks from February through May during oak pollen); the free checks and their settings (cool, fan on auto, three to five degrees below room temperature, wait ten minutes) with the three-minute restart delay that protects the compressor; its price list for this market (capacitor replacement $279-349, refrigerant at $95 a pound in its own pricebook, leak detection and repair $449-849, condenser coil cleaning $149-279, evaporator coil replacement $899-1,499, compressor replacement $1,200-2,200, full system replacement $5,800-9,400); the summary band the decision uses, most repairs $279-849 and major repairs $649-1,900; the flat $279 it says includes the diagnosis and the first hour of work; the heat-rejection loss it attributes to pollen and storm debris (15 to 20 percent before the household notices); the thaw procedure for a frozen coil with its stop condition, and the two durations it gives for that thaw in two places; the seasonal windows it reports for this fault; the fifteen-point tank inspection discipline it applies to plumbing calls; its statement that any work involving refrigerant needs a Florida CAC-licensed contractor, which it grounds in EPA Section 608; and the replacement test it applies (repair above 50 percent of replacement cost on a system twelve or more years old)
Last verified: 2026-09-20. Prices are US market figures from the sources above; your quote may differ.
Built from a fact record, not from a template: every number above is tied to one of the sources and the record is re-checked against them. Editorial choices (which symptom leads, which cause is the single tell) are kept in a separate block so the facts stay auditable.
Quick answers
How much does it cost to fix a central air conditioner with this problem?
Completed repairs run $279–$849 according to the sources cited on this page, after a diagnostic fee of $0.
How long does a central air conditioner last?
The decision rule used on this page works from a planning life of 12 years.
Repair or replace?
Work the free checks first, because a not-cooling call is more often airflow or a switch than a part: a filter you cannot see light through, a thermostat left in fan-only, a breaker or an outside disconnect that tripped in a storm. Past those the price list is narrow at the bottom and brutal at the top - a capacitor is $269 across 93 invoices and a condenser fan motor $737 across 39, while a compressor is $2,312 across 14, which is above half the price of a full install at a $4,493 median across 17. That is the whole decision on this machine: coils, capacitors, fan motors and leaks are repairs at any age, and a compressor on a system past its twelfth year is a down payment on a new one rather than a repair. Ask for the itemised breakdown before authorising anything above $400, which is advice the source gives itself, and never pay for a part before the diagnosis has separated a capacitor from a fan motor from a compressor, because all three arrive as the same complaint.