An AC repair at SwiftPro starts with a flat $99 diagnostic, and the most common fix, a new run capacitor, is $240 to $370. The expensive end is a compressor out of warranty at $2,200 to $5,100. From about $37 a month at 0% APR for 60 months, the whole price financed, on approved credit. How financing works. Which part failed, whether the manufacturer still covers it and how old the system is move the price more than anything else. Book an AC repair visit or call (703) 997-9757. Every current deal is on our offers page.
What each repair actually costs at SwiftPro, rather than a national average:
- Diagnostic visit: a flat $99.
- Run capacitor: $240 to $370. The most common AC repair there is.
- Contactor: $290 to $425.
- Refrigerant added, one to three pounds: $190 to $740, most between $250 and $580. Refrigerant doesn’t get used up, so if it’s low, it leaked: ask where before you pay to top it up.
- Condensate drain cleared, trap and overflow switch added: $175 to $420.
- Thermostat replaced: $300 to $640.
- Condenser fan motor: $1,100 to $1,500 typical.
- Blower motor: $670 to $2,400, with most around $1,500.
- Control board: $550 to $1,180.
- Compressor, out of warranty: $2,200 to $5,100.
- Compressor, part under warranty (labor and refrigerant): $1,900 to $2,500.
- Refrigerant leak found, repaired and recharged: roughly $1,850 to $2,700. It depends entirely on where the leak is.
From about $31 a month at 0% APR for 60 months, the whole price financed, on approved credit. How financing works
Now the useful part: which line your symptom points at.
AC not cooling but still running
Go outside and look at the condenser, the box with the fan on top. What you see there splits the diagnosis three ways.
The fan is not spinning and you hear a hum. Capacitor, nine times out of ten. It is a small can that gives the motors their starting kick, and Trane’s own troubleshooting says the biggest reason one fails is overheating, which is exactly what a Virginia July does to it. Cheap part, quick swap, and the reason we keep a box of them on every van. Do not poke the fan with a stick to start it. That works once and you are back here next week.
The outdoor unit is completely silent while the indoor fan runs. Contactor, a blown fuse at the disconnect, or a tripped breaker. Check the breaker first. If it trips again when you reset it, stop resetting it and call.
Everything runs, the air just is not cold. Low refrigerant, a dirty or frozen coil, a failing compressor, or a system that was never big enough for the house. This one needs gauges, not a guess.
The system we put in first
Built to take a beating. Put in by our crew.
Heat lamps, snow and rain on one outdoor unit: that’s Trane’s own film. We’re a Trane Comfort Specialist, on Trane’s own dealer locator, and when you pick a Trane, our crew puts it in.
Films: Trane’s own.
Other symptoms, decoded
Water on the floor by the furnace, or a stain on a ceiling under an attic unit. The condensate drain is clogged. In July this is a daily call for us. The fix is clearing the line; the upgrade is a trap with a float switch that shuts the system down before the pan overflows, which is why that pair lands at $175 to $420 rather than the cost of a ceiling.
Ice on the copper line or the indoor coil. Turn cooling off, set the fan to On, and leave it. Carrier’s instruction is at least three to four hours for the ice to clear, and Trane’s is do not chip at it. Then check the filter. If a new filter and a thaw fix it, you are done. If it re-ices within a day, it is a leak.
It cools fine but the bill jumped. Usually a dirty condenser coil or low charge, both of which make the system run far longer for the same result.
The $67 Heating Check
We check your furnace, heat pump or boiler before winter. Through December 31. See the offer
Why “just add refrigerant” is the repair to be careful with
An air conditioner does not consume refrigerant. If it is low, it leaked, and topping it up buys time rather than fixing anything. Sometimes time is exactly what you want: a fifteen year old system with a slow leak in August is a fine candidate for a top-off and a plan to replace it in the fall. Paying $500 a summer for the same pound of gas on a ten year old system is money that should have gone to a leak search.
Central ACs built since January 2025 run on R-454B or R-32, and an R-410A system can still be repaired and recharged. When a leak means fix it and when it means replace it: R-454B refrigerant and your R-410A system.
Two things have changed about that math, and they are worth knowing because a lot of what you will read online is out of date.
R-410A is being phased down, not banned. It is the refrigerant in almost every system installed from about 2010 through 2024. Federal law caps the supply of HFC refrigerants as a group, R-410A among them, at 60 percent of the old baseline through 2028 and 30 percent from 2029. The EPA is explicit that there is no requirement to stop using equipment you already own, and that you can keep repairing it, including replacing a major component like a compressor or condensing unit. What can move is the price: the EPA and Carrier both say R-410A may cost more as the phasedown goes on.
New systems use R-454B, and it is not a drop-in. New residential equipment has had to meet a much lower global warming limit since the start of 2025, which is why R-454B replaced R-410A. Its rating is 466 against R-410A’s 2,088. It is classified A2L, the lower flammability class, with a low burning velocity, and it requires equipment and tools built for it. You cannot put it into an R-410A system. The 2025 shortage that made those cylinders hard to get is over, and the EPA’s May 2026 rule also allows pre-2025 R-410A equipment already in inventory to keep being installed.
The practical upshot: price a new system next to any refrigerant-heavy repair on an older unit, and if it needs gas twice, it has a leak that should be found.
Check the warranty before you pay for a compressor
The compressor is the single biggest money item in AC repair. Most major brands cover the compressor for ten years, but only if the unit was registered within a short window after installation: Carrier and Rheem want 90 days, Trane and Goodman 60. Unregistered, the same unit usually drops to five years. None of those standard warranties cover labor, which is why a compressor job out of warranty runs about $1,000 more than one under it: out of warranty you pay for the whole job, under it you pay for labor and refrigerant with the part supplied free.
If a technician quotes a compressor without checking registration and coverage first, get a second opinion. Ours is free.
Repair it or replace it
Three questions: how old, what failed, and what is the repair against a new system. DOE puts a central air conditioner’s life at 15 to 20 years and ENERGY STAR’s threshold for even considering replacement at 10.
A capacitor on a fourteen year old unit is a repair. A compressor on the same unit is not, because $3,000 into a system with two or three summers left is a bad bet when a furnace and air conditioner together start under $9,000 installed. Somewhere between those two is a conversation, and here is how we have it.
If you want the replacement number before deciding, the furnace and AC estimator gives you the installed range for your system size in about two minutes, so you can compare a $3,000 repair against a real figure rather than a feeling.
What lowers the bill
Change the filter. A third of our “AC not cooling” calls in a heat wave are a filter nobody has touched since spring, and $12 beats $99 and a Saturday. Keep the outdoor unit clear: two feet on every side, no mulch against it, no cottonwood packed into the fins. And run the system in May, before the first 90 degree day, when a weak capacitor can be replaced on a Tuesday afternoon instead of at 9 pm in July with everyone else’s. What a real tune-up includes is here.
Comfort+ members take 15 percent off any service, every AC repair included. On a typical blower motor, that covers the membership on its own.
Things people ask
Is the diagnostic fee applied to the repair? Ask when you book. Policies vary by company and by promotion, and you should hear it from the person scheduling rather than read a rule here that changes next month.
Can you tell me the price over the phone? We can tell you which repair range your symptom usually lands in. The number firms up when a technician has the panel off.
Before you book, run the five checks in our AC repair guide: the thermostat, the breakers, the filter, the drain switch and ice. Some no-cool calls end right there.
It is 95 degrees and the AC just died. Here is the first hour, step by step.
AC repair cost questions
How much does AC repair cost in Northern Virginia?
At SwiftPro the diagnostic is a flat $99. From there, a run capacitor is $240 to $370, a contactor $290 to $425, a control board $550 to $1,180, a blower motor $670 to $2,400 and a compressor out of warranty $2,200 to $5,100. From about $37 a month at 0% APR for 60 months, the whole price financed, on approved credit.
Why is my AC low on refrigerant?
Because it leaked. Adding one to three pounds runs $190 to $740, and if it needs gas twice, it has a leak that should be found. Finding the leak, repairing it and recharging runs roughly $1,850 to $2,700, depending on where the leak is. From about $31 a month at 0% APR for 60 months, the whole price financed, on approved credit.
Is my AC compressor still under warranty?
Often, yes. Most major brands cover the compressor for ten years if the unit was registered soon after the install, and usually five if it wasn’t. The warranty covers the part, so a compressor under warranty still runs $1,900 to $2,500 for labor and refrigerant. From about $32 a month at 0% APR for 60 months, the whole price financed, on approved credit.
Should I repair my AC or replace it?
Three questions settle it: how old the system is, what failed, and what the repair costs against a new system. A capacitor on a fourteen-year-old unit is a repair. A compressor on that same unit usually isn’t, when a new furnace and AC start at $8,898 installed. From about $148 a month at 0% APR for 60 months, the whole price financed, on approved credit.
Does a maintenance plan lower AC repair costs?
Comfort+ members take 15 percent off any service, and the $99 diagnostic is included. It’s $199 a year or $20 a month.
SwiftPro repairs every brand of central air conditioner and heat pump across Northern Virginia. Call (703) 997-9757, book online, or see the AC repair page.
Watch us find what's wrong with an AC
Real jobs in Northern Virginia homes, filmed by our own crew. Tap one to watch.
