AC repair · Northern Virginia
Most air conditioning repairs in Northern Virginia are not the number you are dreading. The prices below are ours, they are on this page before you call, and you get the exact one for your system in writing before anybody picks up a tool.
5.0 stars across 867 Google reviews
Before anyone starts
We find the fault, price the repair, and you say yes or no. Members take 15% off the repair.
What an AC repair costs
These are SwiftPro’s own ranges in Northern Virginia, not a national average. Where a job lands in its range is the part, the equipment it goes into, and how hard it is to get at. A run capacitor is the one we replace most.
Condensate drain cleared
The drain that stops a puddle turning into a ceiling. A trap and an overflow switch go in at the same visit.
$175to$420
Refrigerant topped up
One to three pounds of R-410A. Most land between $250 and $580. If it needs it again next summer, it is leaking, and topping it up is the expensive way to lose.
$190to$740
Run capacitor replaced
The part that gives the compressor and fan the kick to start. It is the single most common reason an outdoor unit hums and never turns over.
$240to$370
Contactor replaced
The relay that closes power to the outdoor unit. Burnt or welded points mean the condenser sits there silent while the thermostat calls.
$290to$425
Blower wheel pulled and cleaned
A wheel caked in dust moves a fraction of the air it should, which is most of the “runs all day, never cools” calls.
$300to$440
Thermostat replaced
Standard through smart. Wired, mounted and on your phone before we leave.
$300to$640
Defrost board replaced
Heat pumps only. It is the board that decides when to melt the ice off the outdoor coil.
$450to$1,150
Control board replaced
The brain in the furnace or air handler. When it goes, nothing downstream of it does what it is told.
$550to$1,180
Blower motor replaced
The indoor fan. Most land around $1,500. The spread is whether it is a standard motor or a variable-speed one.
$670to$2,400
Condenser fan motor replaced
The fan on top of the outdoor unit. If it stops and the compressor keeps running, the repair gets more expensive by the minute.
$1,100to$1,500
Refrigerant leak found and repaired
Finding it, fixing it, then recharging the system. This is the repair a yearly top-up is quietly costing you more than.
$1,850to$2,700
Compressor replaced, part under warranty
Labor and refrigerant, when the manufacturer still covers the part. Worth checking before anyone quotes you a system.
$1,900to$2,500
Compressor replaced, out of warranty
The big one, and the point where replacing the system usually wins the argument. We give you both numbers.
$2,200to$5,100
The diagnostic is about $99. A technician finds the actual fault, not the loudest symptom, and you get the repair price in writing before the work starts. Approve it or decline it. If you decline, you still own the diagnosis.
Members take 15% off repairs and service. The Family Care Plan is $199 a year for one system and includes an AC inspection every summer. If the repair conversation turns into a replacement conversation, the furnace and AC cost estimator gives you a price range for your home in about two minutes, so the number is never a surprise, and financing is available on all of it, subject to approval.
Read your own system
Six things people describe on the phone, and what they usually turn out to be. None of this replaces a technician putting gauges on it. All of it means you walk into the conversation knowing roughly what you are looking at.
Usually the outdoor unit has stopped running, and the two usual reasons are a failed run capacitor and a burnt contactor.
Go outside and listen. A hum with no fan turning is almost always the capacitor. Silence with the thermostat calling is usually the contactor. Both are same-visit parts we carry, and both sit at the cheap end of the table above. If the outdoor unit is running fine and the air is still warm, the system is low on refrigerant, and low means leaking.
Check the breaker, the condensate safety switch and the furnace door switch before you call anybody, because all three shut a system off on purpose.
A tripped condensate switch is the one people miss: the drain backs up, a float rises, and the system refuses to run so it does not put water through your ceiling. If the breaker trips again the moment you reset it, stop resetting it and call. Something is drawing more current than it should and the next thing to fail is the compressor.
That is an airflow problem far more often than a refrigerant problem: a clogged filter, a matted coil, or a blower wheel packed with dust.
We measure the temperature drop across the indoor coil before recommending anything. Somewhere around 16 to 22 degrees between the return and the supply is healthy. Much less and we go looking for why, which is a very different conversation from selling you refrigerant.
Shut the system off and call. A blocked condensate drain is a cheap repair and an expensive flood.
The indoor coil pulls gallons of water out of Northern Virginia summer air every day, and all of it leaves down one small drain line. When that line clogs, the water finds the ceiling below. Clearing it, adding a trap and fitting an overflow switch runs $175 to $420.
Turn the system off, switch the fan to ON, and let it thaw before anyone looks at it.
Ice means either low airflow or low refrigerant, and you cannot tell which while it is frozen. Change the filter while it thaws. If it ices up again inside the same week, it needs a technician, and running it iced is how a compressor dies.
Shut it off. A screaming compressor or a seized fan motor gets more expensive every minute it keeps running.
A hard click and then nothing is the capacitor. A screech on start-up is usually the fan motor. A grinding that follows the blower is bearings. A loud hum from the outdoor unit that never becomes a fan is, again, the capacitor.
Outdoor unit running but the fan not turning? That one has its own answer: why an AC fan stops spinning. And if it is late and the house is hot, call (703) 997-9757 rather than reading further.
How the visit actually goes
Often same-day, and we will tell you honestly when we can get there. That is the whole promise, and it is deliberately not a guarantee we would have to weasel out of on the hottest day of the year.
A real arrival window, and a call ahead when the technician is on the way. If we cannot get to you today we say so on the phone, not at five o’clock.
The whole system gets looked at, not just the part making the noise. Pressures, temperature drop across the coil, amp draw, the electrical side.
Before anything is opened up or ordered. You approve it or you decline it. A decline is a normal outcome and nobody will make it awkward.
Capacitors, contactors, condensate work, thermostats and most motors are on the van. What is not, we order and book.
The honest version
A repair on a system that is already at the end is money you spend twice. The rule of thumb we use out loud, on the driveway:
Longer version, with the arithmetic: repair or replace your AC. Price a replacement yourself with the free HVAC estimator, read how an AC install runs, or if someone else has already handed you a big number, take the free second opinion first.
Who turns up at the door
SwiftPro is family owned, based on Lafayette Center Drive in Chantilly, and every technician who comes to your house is ours.
More about the company and the people in it: about SwiftPro. Already booked something and want the seasonal check instead? That is AC maintenance, and this month’s offers are on the coupons page.
Where we run repair calls
Out of Chantilly and Ashburn, across five counties. Service happens in your home and is scheduled by phone; neither address is a shop you visit.
Also Herndon, Vienna, Oakton, Burke, Centreville, Springfield, Fairfax Station, Great Falls, Falls Church, Clifton, South Riding, Bristow, Haymarket, Gainesville, Lorton and Purcellville. If your town is not on the list, call and ask: (703) 997-9757.
What the neighbors said
5.0 stars across 867 Google reviews. These three are here because they answer the three things people actually worry about: can you come today, will you sell me something I do not need, and do you fix the cause.
SwiftPro was able to schedule a repair visit that same day when our a/c was blowing warm air. They sent out a qualified technician who communicated effectively and resolved our problem quickly. He also made a few recommendations to keep our unit in working order. Thanks Jaime for the great job!
Excellent experience from beginning to end. Prompt response when our AC went out on a 93-degree day. The technician explained the issues and did not try to upsell me on anything I didn’t need. Highly recommend.
Great experience with the SwiftPro cooling tech. After a previous AC repair visit, they recommended condenser coil cleaning for max efficiency. Same tech, same excellent experience. 100% recommend this independently owned shop.
Reviews are shown as customers wrote them, with light typo cleanup and one trimmed for length. SwiftPro does not write, edit, buy or remove customer reviews, and offers no incentive in exchange for one.
Asked on the phone, daily
Most AC repairs we run land between $240 and $1,500. A run capacitor is $240 to $370, a condensate drain $175 to $420, a condenser fan motor $1,100 to $1,500, and a compressor out of warranty is $2,200 to $5,100. The diagnostic visit is about $99, and you get the exact price of the repair in writing before anyone starts.
Often same-day, and we will tell you honestly when we can get there. If the house is hot now, call (703) 997-9757 rather than booking online, because a phone call gets you into the dispatch board instead of the next open slot.
Usually the outdoor unit is not actually running, and the usual reason is a failed run capacitor or a burnt contactor. Stand next to the outdoor unit with the thermostat calling for cool: a hum with no fan turning points at the capacitor, total silence at the contactor, and a unit running normally while the air stays warm points at low refrigerant.
$240 to $370 for us in Northern Virginia, fitted, on a standard residential system. It is the most common AC repair there is and it is usually done on the first visit, because the part is on the van.
$2,200 to $5,100 out of warranty, or $1,900 to $2,500 if the manufacturer still covers the part and you are paying for labor and refrigerant. At the top of that range, replacing the system is usually the better buy, and we will show you both numbers rather than pick for you.
The condensate drain is blocked. Shut the system off so it stops making water, and get it cleared: $175 to $420 including a trap and an overflow switch, against drywall and a ceiling if it keeps running.
If the system is more than twelve years old and the repair comes to more than a third of a new system, replacing usually wins. Multiply the repair price by the age of the unit: over about $5,000 and the money is better spent on the replacement. We give you both numbers on the same visit.
Twelve to fifteen years in Northern Virginia, and a system on R-22 is older than that whatever the label says. Heat pumps run every month of the year, so they tend to land at the lower end.
Yes. Carrier, Trane, Rheem, Lennox, Goodman, York, American Standard, Bryant, Mitsubishi and the rest. The brand on the equipment does not change whether we will work on it.
Members take 15% off repairs and service. The Family Care Plan is $199 a year for one heating and cooling system and includes an AC inspection every summer, a heating inspection every fall, a whole-home plumbing inspection and a dryer vent cleaning.
Get it fixed
If the house is hot now, call. A phone call puts you on the dispatch board instead of the next open slot, and we will tell you honestly when we can get there.
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing
4230 Lafayette Center Dr N, Chantilly, VA 20151
44679 Endicott Dr, Suite 211, Ashburn, VA 20147
Virginia Class A contractor license #2705192276
Prices on this page are ranges for the repair itself on a standard residential system in Northern Virginia, and the exact price for yours is quoted in writing on site before any work starts. The diagnostic visit is separate. Member pricing requires an active Family Care Plan.
