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A mix of clouds and sun. High 97F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph..
Partly cloudy early with increasing clouds overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible late. Low 77F. Winds light and variable.
Ethan Higgins, a technician with Paducah Heating & Air, climbs to the roof of Huck’s Truck Stop on Olivet Church Road to test air conditioner components Wednesday afternoon.
Mark Smith, a technician with Fiers Heating and Air Conditioning, installs a new condenser unit at a business on Village Square Drive on Thursday afternoon.
Ethan Higgins, a technician with Paducah Heating & Air, climbs to the roof of Huck’s Truck Stop on Olivet Church Road to test air conditioner components Wednesday afternoon.
Mark Smith, a technician with Fiers Heating and Air Conditioning, installs a new condenser unit at a business on Village Square Drive on Thursday afternoon.
While many air conditioning repair and installation companies are seeing record levels of customers, heat, supply issues and waiting lists are complicating matters for companies and customers alike.
“Business this year is off the chart,” said Anna Copeland, a service manager at Paducah Heating and Air Conditioning.
“It’s a record even without the heat wave. We have record demand right now. It’s easily double or triple our typical workload. During the previous heat wave we had about 40 residential homes for our three service technicians.”
The extreme heat is only adding to issues that already existed.
“We still are having inventory problems from COVID and supply chain issues as well,” Copeland said. “Parts shortages, unit shortages and the industry is doing a changeup as well. The EPA and government have changed efficiency rules and the industry is changing to meet these requirements. Major brands like Linux have shut down commercial sales. Because they are switching over to make the unit toward the new style that has to be done by the first of the year.
“They don’t have the staffing to man two lines of production for current models and future models. So they’re focusing strictly on future models. Some customers have a waiting list of at least 40 weeks.”
Paducah Heating and Air Conditioning also has commercial clients and has had to make some adjustments to be able to accommodate their customers.
“We do commercial heating and air as well,” Copeland said. “Refrigeration, repair and commercial kitchens. We still have that constant demand from those customers while having the increased demand on the residential side as well. The only thing that we’ve been able to do is keep a technician free (to help with commercial customers) … we just have to limit our service to our dedicated customers.”
Other businesses have also been feeling the strain this heat and shortages have put on operations.
“What’s really affecting people right now, of course, in the heat is the air conditioners because we really depend on air conditioners when this heat happens,” Jim Hank, the co owner of Hank Brothers True Value Hardware store, said.
“We have air conditioners on sale and we’re selling them really well. What people don’t realize is that air conditioners are supposed to cycle.”
When air conditioners don’t get to cycle like this due to temperatures going too high and people setting the conditioner too low, they burn them up and can damage the compressors.
“They’re burning up their compressors,” Hank said. “We’re having people come in after their air conditioners burn up. Another thing that complicates things because we’re in this crazy economy where there’s lots of shortages. They just can’t get the parts. Can you imagine someone saying ‘we’ll fix your air conditioner in four weeks in this temperature?’ ”
Follow Levi Brandenburg on Twitter, @LeviBrandenbur3, or on Facebook at facebook.com/levi.brandenburg.1.
Follow Levi Brandenburg on Twitter, @LeviBrandenbur3, or on Facebook at facebook.com/levi.brandenburg.1.
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