Aircon Repairs in Gqeberha
Not cooling, leaking water, icing up or refusing to switch on. We find the actual fault instead of guessing at it, and we tell you honestly whether it is worth repairing.
Start with what it is doing
Most aircon faults announce themselves in a fairly specific way, and the symptom narrows down the cause considerably before anyone opens a panel. Here is what the common ones usually mean.
Runs, but will not cool
The most common call we get. Usually low refrigerant from a leak, a filter or coil so clogged that air cannot move through it, or a compressor that is failing. Topping up refrigerant without finding the leak is a temporary fix at best.
Will not switch on at all
Often electrical rather than mechanical. A tripped breaker, a failed capacitor, a control board fault, or a thermostat that has stopped reading correctly. Worth checking your DB board before you call anyone.
Leaking water indoors
Almost always drainage. The condensate line is blocked, or the unit was installed fractionally off level so water runs the wrong way. Left alone it stains ceilings and swells cupboards, so it is worth attending to early.
Ice on the pipes or coil
A symptom, not the fault itself. Restricted airflow or low refrigerant drops the coil below freezing. Switch it off and let it thaw before running it again, because running it iced up strains the compressor.
Smells bad when it runs
A musty smell usually means mould in the drain pan or on the coil, which is a cleaning job. A sharp or burning smell means switch it off at the wall and call us before running it again.
Noisy, rattling or grinding
Rattles are often a loose panel or debris in the outdoor fan, which is minor. Grinding or screeching from the compressor is not minor, and continuing to run it usually turns a repair into a replacement.
If it smells like burning, or the breaker keeps tripping, switch it off at the wall.
Both point at an electrical fault, and repeatedly resetting a breaker to keep a unit running is how a repairable fault becomes a fire risk. Call us and leave it off until someone has looked at it.
How we find the fault
Fault finding is a listed service in its own right, and that is deliberate. Swapping parts until the symptom disappears is expensive and often does not hold, because the thing that broke is rarely the thing that caused it. A compressor that fails at four years old usually failed for a reason.
- Tell us the symptomWhat it is doing, when it started, and whether anything changed just before. That detail genuinely shortens the diagnosis.
- On-site diagnosisWe test the system properly: refrigerant pressures, electrical components, airflow, drainage and controls, rather than assuming from the symptom alone.
- Honest recommendationYou get told what is wrong, what it takes to fix, and whether fixing it is the sensible call. Including when it is not.
- Repair and testWe carry out the repair and then run the system to confirm the fault is actually resolved and has not simply moved.
Repair, or replace?
Not every fault is worth fixing, and we would rather say so than take the work. As a rough guide, a repair is usually the right call when the unit is relatively young, the fault is contained, and the system was installed properly to begin with.
Replacement starts making more sense when the compressor has failed on an older unit, when the system uses a refrigerant that is being phased out, or when the same fault keeps returning. An older unit limping along also costs noticeably more to run than a modern inverter model, so the repair bill is not the whole comparison.
We will give you the honest version, including when the honest version means we do less work.
What affects the cost of a repair
We cannot quote a repair properly without diagnosing it, and anyone who quotes before diagnosing is guessing. These are the things that move the number:
- What has actually failed. A blocked drain or a dirty filter is a small job. A compressor is at the other end of the scale.
- Parts. Whether the component is a standard stocked item or has to be ordered for that specific model.
- Refrigerant. If the system has lost gas, the leak has to be found and repaired before recharging, otherwise you are paying to fill a system that will empty again.
- Access. A wall unit at head height is straightforward. A cassette in a high ceiling or a roof-mounted outdoor unit takes longer to reach safely.
- Age and condition. Older systems sometimes reveal a second fault once the first is cleared.
Which is why we diagnose before quoting rather than after. Tell us what it is doing and we will take it from there. Free, and with no obligation.
The brands we are accredited on
We are accredited installers and service technicians for these four, which means our people are trained on those specific systems:
Got something else? Call and describe it. We will tell you straight whether it is one we can help with.
Where we work
We operate from 286 Walmer Boulevard, South End, Gqeberha, covering Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth), Walmer, Summerstrand, St Francis Bay and the surrounding areas, for homes as well as commercial and industrial sites.
Cool Projects has been repairing and maintaining air conditioning in the Eastern Cape since 2003, across more than 1000 systems.
Get it looked at
Tell us what the unit is doing and we will take it from there. Free quote, no obligation, and an honest answer on whether it is worth repairing.
Book a RepairOr call 041 581 6563 and describe the fault.