Start where the failures actually live. Airflow first: a filter past its life, a blower struggling, or returns blocked by furniture starves the coil, drops cooling, and eventually freezes it. A surprising share of no cooling calls end at this step, which is why any diagnosis that skips it and opens with a compressor is out of order.
Georgetown edition: on a 100 degree afternoon, run the local order. Filter, thermostat batteries and settings, the outdoor unit's fan, and the breaker, in that order, and if the outdoor unit hums but the fan does not spin, you are likely looking at the capacitor finding local operators name first. Say who is in the home when you call; with Sun City inside this market, that sentence moves the call correctly.
Electrical second: the capacitor and contactor are the small parts that start big motors, and they fail on the hottest days because that is when they work hardest and longest. Gauges third: refrigerant charge is measured, and low charge means a leak to find, because refrigerant circulates in a sealed loop and is never used up.
Ducts last and often: cooled air dumped into an attic through a separated run cools the attic faithfully while the house complains. If one end of the house never cools while the other overcools, suspect the air's road, not the machine making it.
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