AC repair in Alexandria.
AC and heat pump repair in the City of Alexandria and the Fairfax County side, priced from a published book before any work starts.
- Prices in writing, first
- Common parts on the truck
- Dedicated HVAC team
Get your AC repair priced
Heat pumps in Franconia, furnaces in Rose Hill, condos in the City.
Alexandria’s cooling calls split three ways. On the Fairfax County side, Franconia and Woodlawn lean electric, so the outdoor unit is usually a heat pump that cools in July and heats in January. Rose Hill, Fort Hunt and Kingstowne lean gas: a furnace inside and a separate air conditioner outside, sharing one blower. And in the City, more than half the homes are in bigger buildings, where the cooling is often a small split system or a fan coil in a closet.
In Old Town and Parker-Gray, replacing an outdoor unit people can see from the street goes to the Board of Architectural Review, while a barely visible one in a side or rear yard can be approved by staff and screened if it shows. A repair needs none of that, which is one more reason to fix what’s worth fixing.
What’s cooling the houses across Alexandria.
Census figures for the owner-occupied homes in each place, and what that usually means for the air conditioning.
| Place | Median home built | Most homes are | Heated with | What the cooling usually is |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Alexandria | 1970 | condo and apartment buildings, about 5 in 10 | gas, about 6 in 10 | Condo and apartment buildings: small splits and fan coils, roof or balcony condensers. |
| Rose Hill | 1969 | single-family houses, about 7 in 10 | gas, about 7 in 10 | Older houses on their third or fourth system, usually a gas furnace with a separate AC. |
| Franconia | 1986 | townhouses, about 5 in 10 | electricity, about 6 in 10 | Mostly electric heat: heat pumps that cool in summer and heat in winter. |
| Fort Hunt | 1963 | single-family houses, nearly all | gas, about 8 in 10 | Older houses on their third or fourth system, usually a gas furnace with a separate AC. |
| Kingstowne | 1994 | townhouses, about 5 in 10 | gas, about 7 in 10 | Townhouse streets: condensers side by side, air handler in a closet or attic. |
| Woodlawn | 1976 | townhouses, about 4 in 10 | electricity, about 6 in 10 | Mostly electric heat: heat pumps that cool in summer and heat in winter. |
| Lincolnia | 1982 | single-family houses, about 4 in 10 | gas, about 7 in 10 | 1980s and 90s houses, most on their second or third system. |
| Mount Vernon | 1967 | single-family houses, about 7 in 10 | gas, about 7 in 10 | Older houses on their third or fourth system, usually a gas furnace with a separate AC. |
Alexandria houses, by the numbers
From the Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 survey, owner-occupied homes unless it says otherwise.
The City of Alexandria
- Median home built1970 Census
- Built before 1980about 6 in 10 Census
- Built since 2000about 2 in 10 Census
- Most homes arecondo and apartment buildings, about 5 in 10 Census
- Heated withgas, about 6 in 10 Census
- Rentedabout 6 in 10 Census
- Electric heat here usually means a heat pump, so the outdoor unit works all year and an AC problem is often a heating problem waiting for January.
- Older houses often have returns too small for today’s systems, and a starved return is one of the ways an AC freezes up.
The Fairfax County side
- Built before 1980about 5 in 10 Census
- Built since 2000about 1 in 10 Census
- Most homes aresingle-family houses, about 4 in 10 Census
- Heated withgas, about 6 in 10 Census
- Rentedabout 3 in 10 Census
- Gas heat means a furnace inside and a separate air conditioner outside, sharing one blower, so a tired blower shows up in both seasons.
What AC repair costs in Alexandria.
The same price book as our AC repair page. The diagnostic visit is about $99, and the common parts ride on the truck, so most of these get fixed on the first visit.
- Run capacitor replaced$240 to $370
- Contactor replaced$290 to $425
- Condensate drain cleared$175 to $420
- Refrigerant topped up$190 to $740
- Blower wheel pulled and cleaned$300 to $440
- Refrigerant leak found and repaired$1,850 to $2,700
- Repair diagnostic visitabout $99
Often same-day, and we will tell you honestly when we can get there.
On the Family Care Plan, repairs are 15 percent off, and the AC and heating inspections are part of the plan.
What a failing AC in Alexandria usually does.
The heat pump is icing up in summer
Ice on the outdoor lines in July means low refrigerant or starved airflow. Shut it off to thaw and call; running it iced can take out the compressor.
The air coming out is warm
Usually the outdoor unit has stopped running. A hum with no fan turning is almost always the run capacitor; silence while the thermostat calls is usually the contactor.
It runs all day and never cools
That’s an airflow problem far more often than a refrigerant problem: a clogged filter, a matted coil, or a blower wheel packed with dust.
How to pick the best AC repair company in Alexandria.
Questions worth asking anybody who comes out, us included.
Will they tell you if a new condenser needs historic district sign-off?
In Old Town and Parker-Gray, a unit people can see from the street does. A contractor who works here should raise it before you sign, not after the paperwork comes back.
Do they publish prices?
A company that prints what a capacitor or a contactor costs has already told you the number. One that won’t say until the tech is in your driveway hasn’t.
Do they measure before they sell refrigerant?
A healthy system drops the air somewhere around 16 to 22 degrees across the indoor coil. Low refrigerant means a leak, and topping it up every summer is the expensive way to find that out.
Will they tell you when it’s the end of the road?
Some repairs aren’t worth doing on a 20-year-old system. The good answer shows you the repair price and the replacement price side by side and lets you pick.
What our customers say.
Hard to find service like this in Alexandria.
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!
…we had swift and professional responses for multiple plumbing and HVAC needs in our Rosemont Alexandria condo
5.0 stars across 884 Google reviews. Read them on our reviews page.
AC repair questions from Alexandria.
Is a heat pump repair different from an AC repair?
Same outdoor unit, a couple more parts. A heat pump runs in both seasons, so it has a reversing valve and a defrost board an air conditioner doesn’t. In Franconia and Woodlawn, where most houses heat with electricity, we check both on a summer call.
Can you fix the AC in a City condo?
Yes: the unit’s own system, meaning the air handler or fan coil inside and the outdoor section if it belongs to you. Some buildings put condensers on the roof and control who goes up, so tell us the building when you book and we’ll sort out access first.
What if my City house has radiators and no ducts?
Then cooling is usually a ductless mini-split: a small outdoor unit and a head on the wall of each room, with no ductwork to squeeze into an old house. Inside the City we still work on a lot of boilers and radiators, and that’s the usual way to add cooling to one. It’s an install rather than a repair, so we price it at the house.
How much does AC repair cost in Alexandria?
The diagnostic visit is about $99. The common repairs: a run capacitor $240 to $370, a contactor $290 to $425, a condensate drain cleared $175 to $420, refrigerant topped up $190 to $740. A refrigerant leak repair runs $1,850 to $2,700.
Should I repair it or replace it?
Fix the cheap parts on almost anything. Think twice about a big repair on a system over 15 years old, and about any leak on an R-22 system. The HVAC estimator prices a new system in about a minute, so you can put the two numbers side by side.
AC repair in the towns next door.
More from SwiftPro in Alexandria
Tell us what your AC is doing.
Call, or book online and pick a window. The tech prices the repair from the book before starting, and if it’s the end of the road you’ll hear that first.
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing is a licensed, BBB Accredited (A rating), independently owned heating, cooling and plumbing company in Chantilly, serving Alexandria and the rest of Northern Virginia. Virginia contractor license #2705192276. 5.0 stars across 884 Google reviews. SwiftPro maintains a dedicated HVAC team and a dedicated plumbing team.
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing, 4230 Lafayette Center Dr, Suite N, Chantilly, VA 20151, (703) 997-9757. Book online, read our reviews, or see every town we serve.