AC Replacement & Repair in Shreveport, LA
Whether the system needs fixing or replacing, what helps is a written number for your house. Tell us what you have and we will get you a quote from a vetted Shreveport-Bossier contractor. Free, and you are not committing to anything.
In Shreveport, a new central air conditioner installed typically runs $5,200-8,500, and a high-efficiency two-stage or variable-speed system reaches $11,600.
The cooling season here runs roughly April through October, which is why a higher-efficiency system pays back faster in Shreveport than in almost any market north of it.
Compressors here are as likely to be killed by a summer storm surge as by age, and a hard-start surge protector is a $180-450 line on a new install.
Repair it, or replace it?
The honest rule of thumb is age plus refrigerant. What is different here is that the system runs for seven months a year, so both the wear and the electricity bill are larger than the national advice assumes.
- Under about ten years old and the repair is a few hundred dollars - fix it. Capacitors, contactors and fan motors are maintenance, not a reason to replace a system.
- Twelve years or older and it needs a compressor or a coil - price the replacement instead. In this climate a twelve-year-old unit here has the run hours of a much older one somewhere cooler.
- It still runs R-22 refrigerant - phased out, so a leak repair means paying a lot for something only getting scarcer.
- Your summer electricity bills have crept up while nothing else changed - that is a system losing efficiency, and over a seven-month season that gap is worth real money.
- The unit died right after a storm - check for surge damage before accepting an age-based diagnosis. It may be a much cheaper fix than you were told.
Your system does double the work of a northern one
This is the thing that explains most Shreveport AC calls, and almost nobody says it out loud. Northwest Louisiana runs cooling for roughly six to seven months of the year. A house in Ohio runs it for three.
Equipment is not rated in calendar years, it is worn out by running hours. So a compressor here piles up in a decade what a Midwestern compressor takes twenty years to accumulate. When a manufacturer says a system lasts fifteen to twenty years, that is an average across the country - and this is not the average part of the country. A Shreveport system reaching the end at twelve years is not defective. It has simply done the hours.
- A system that fails at twelve years because it has run six to seven months a year
- Electrical parts destroyed the moment power was restored, not while it was off
- An outdoor unit that stood in water and needs inspection before anyone powers it up
- A breaker tripping repeatedly, which is a message rather than a nuisance
Storm season breaks things electrically, not mechanically
The damage from an outage usually does not happen while the power is off. It happens in the instant it comes back. That surge travels straight into the condenser, and what fails is the cheap electrical parts - capacitors, contactors, control boards - rather than anything you can see.
Which is why so many people here discover their AC is dead the evening after the lights came back on. A surge protector fitted at the condenser costs $180-420 and is the single most sensible piece of insurance in this market.
What we get called about most
- Nothing at all after an outage - electrical, usually a capacitor or contactor, not the motor.
- Cooling weakly through August after months of unbroken running.
- Breaker tripping repeatedly, which is a message rather than a nuisance - stop resetting it.
- An outdoor unit that sat in standing water after a downpour and needs checking before anyone powers it up.
Areas we cover
- Shreveport
- Bossier City
- Haughton
- Benton
- Stonewall
- Blanchard
- Greenwood
Get a written quote for your system
Tell us the square footage, roughly how old the system is, and what a July electricity bill looks like. We will match you with a vetted Shreveport-Bossier contractor who quotes in writing. No charge for the match, no obligation, and we do not sell your details to four companies.
Or call (318) 599-2831
Common questions
Why is my AC running but not cooling?
In Shreveport, if it stopped right after a power outage the cause is almost certainly electrical - a capacitor or contactor destroyed by the surge when power was restored, not the compressor.
How long does an air conditioner last?
Manufacturers quote 15 to 20 years, but that assumes an average cooling season. Northwest Louisiana runs six to seven months a year, so equipment here commonly reaches end of life 3 to 5 years earlier than the averages suggest.
My system is 12 years old and failing. Was it a bad unit?
Almost certainly not. Twelve Louisiana summers is a great deal more running time than twelve northern ones, and equipment life is measured in hours rather than birthdays. It is worth knowing before someone convinces you the brand was the problem.
How fast can someone get here in August?
Normally 2-4 hours across Shreveport and Bossier City, since the two cities are minutes apart. During a heat advisory or right after a storm, every company in the parish is saturated and it becomes next-day.
The unit was under water. Can I just switch it on?
No - have it inspected first. Water in the electrical compartment or the compressor windings turns a survivable event into a destroyed unit the moment it gets energised.