Temperatures nearing triple digits in North Texas are keeping air conditioner repairmen busy.
Air conditioning companies say that their calls for service have increased dramatically since temperatures started heating up a few weeks back.
The sound of humming a/c units means it is time for the Texas heat once again, but like a lot of people that sound came to a stop on Thursday for James and Rachel Killingsworth.
“This is Texas,” said James. “Air conditioning is vital. It is absolutely vital.”
The Killingsworths called up their a/c installer, Metro Energy Savers, on Friday morning and a few hours later technician Mike Hopper was busy diagnosing the problem. A busted capacitor was the culprit in their outside unit. Hopper says they sometimes just can’t handle the Texas heat and shut down a system. It was a fairly quick fix, but it could have caused more damage to the unit.
“It seems like it’s going to either be catastrophic or a minimal fix,” said Hopper. “Seems to be going one way or the other here lately.”
All those repairs though are expected once the temperatures get up. This is the busy season for the air conditioning industry.
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“Last Summer it was 120 degrees and I was working 10 to 15 calls a day,” said James Stewart of Fort Worth Air Conditioning Co. Inc. “And there’s not enough time in the day to get to all of them.”
Fort Worth Air Conditioning says since temperatures have increased they have seen as many as a dozen calls an hour for service. That means long days for technicians.
“I occasionally roll out at seven in the morning,” said Hopper. “This week I usually have gotten home at ten at night, some nights not until 12, or one in the morning. And it’s not even busy season yet.”
Busy season usually kicks in once July and August roll in, but the work has started early this year. Hopper was able to fix the Killingsworth system in about 40 minutes. Just one of about a dozen calls he’ll handle on this single day.
Hopper says the best way to prevent those minimal fixes is to have your air conditioning checked out every six months. Maintenance on outside units is also critical, so too is having a good filter inside. But Hopper says, you expect to have problems with a/c units with the Texas heat because they’re used so much during the summer months.
