Do this first
Replace the filter if it's loaded — restricted airflow is the top cause of weak cooling and frozen evaporator coils. Outside, clear anything within 60 cm of the condenser and rinse visible dirt and cottonwood fluff off the coil with gentle hose pressure (power off first). Check the thermostat is on COOL and the set point is below room temperature. Then give the system 30–60 minutes; on a very hot day, a healthy system may only pull the house down a degree or so per hour.
Ice on the lines or coil: stop
Ice means the evaporator is running below freezing — from restricted airflow or low refrigerant. Turn cooling off, run fan-only to thaw, and book service. Topping up refrigerant without finding the leak isn't a repair, and each year the system limps along low, the compressor works hotter and shorter-lived.
Undersized or mis-sized systems
Some 'not cooling' complaints are really sizing problems: a system chosen by square-footage rule of thumb instead of a heat gain calculation. Fraser Valley homes see meaningfully hotter summer design temperatures than coastal Vancouver, and big west-facing glazing changes the load again. If your A/C has never kept up on hot days — not just this week — the fix is a load calculation, not another service call. That calculation is where every NEO Service Tech cooling quote starts.
What a cooling diagnostic covers
Measured supply/return temperature split, refrigerant charge verified by superheat and subcooling, capacitor and contactor testing, condensate drainage, and airflow. If the equipment is healthy but underperforming, we'll tell you that too — with the numbers to show why.