Local AC Company Responds To Calls About Broken Units In High Heat

A lot of people said their air conditioners are having a hard time keeping up with these 100 degree plus days.

Air Assurance in Broken Arrow said it's getting hundreds of calls a day from people desperate for a cool down.

Many Oklahomans are staying inside this week to avoid the heat, but for people with broken air conditioners, that's harder to do.

"This heat is no joke," said Steve Caldwell, Bixby. "We're feeling it."

It's hot, muggy, and for the Caldwell family it's extra miserable.

"It's the hottest I've seen it," said Steve Caldwell. "It's mother nature and just got to bear through it, I guess."

Steve Caldwell's air conditioning went out on the July 4 while his family was visiting from California.

"I don't think it's gonna be fixed today. The way they're talking with all the vents, it's gonna have to be all replaced. All the ducting is gonna have to be replaced in this house, and it should've been caught when we bought the house," said Caldwell. "We're all on vacation right now, this is, I don't know, I might want to go back to work."

Air Assurance currently receives more than 700 calls a day and responds to roughly a third of those daily prioritizing calls based on severity.

"These heating and air technicians not just walk into homes that are obviously hot, stuffy and humid but they also spend several minutes in usually an attic that's 140 degrees plus," said Charlie Ogle, Sales Manager Air Assurance.

Ogle said there's also a shortage of parts.

"We will take parts sometimes from the equipment that we have here at the shop if we're having to wait several days or weeks," said Ogle.

He said replacing your AC is about to get even more expensive.

“For many years people have been able to say let’s just do a quick fix in this system; one of the challenges they may face going from 2022 to 2023 is on January 1st the Department of Energy is raising the minimum efficiency standards for this type of equipment. And for this market it is going up so we do anticipate that on January 1st 2023 the cost of replacing a whole heating and air conditioning system is expected to be about 20% higher than it is today, so for some of those folks that think doing that quick repair to offset maybe having to replace it may save them money may actually end up costing them more," said Ogle.

Some repairs are simple, like replacing clogged filters and batteries in a thermostat.

Ogle said AC systems which are running 24-7 right now are in overdrive.

"It hasn't been at least this hot for this many consecutive days for about 10 years," said Ogle. “With the temperatures we’re experiencing right now the systems are running longer and they’re coming on more frequently, every hour throughout the entire day so the systems are stressed right now. They are a mechanical system which means they do require maintenance. We find that nearly 70% of all the service calls could’ve been prevented had preventative to annual maintenance been performed on the system.”

He recommends keeping your blinds closed and appliances off in the afternoon.

Ogle said the equipment needs to be running to dehumidify and when that system first comes back on, it could take 3 to 5 hours before the temperature gets comfortable.