ROANOKE, Va. – The temperature is rising, so you may be quick to crank up the A/C.
But local repair companies are feeling the pressure from the supply shortage and are warning customers to act now to avoid a call to a repairman.
“I have been doing heat and air conditioning for 21 years,” said Chris Mize, Service Experts general manager. “It’s never been more difficult to support our customers.”
Manufactures are short on plastic and computer chips which help make coils and other parts of A/C units.
To get ahead of the supply shortage, Mize says Service Experts started to collect inventory two years ago to keep on hand.
It’s a practice the company never did before. Rather, they would simply pick up a product from a seller and install it.
But you can’t stock up on everything, he said.
Wait times have drastically increased. Mize said one client had to replace the blower motor which typically only takes two days. But the client ended up waiting nearly six months.
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“A lot of commercial products right now said they quit making them and are not accepting any new orders to 2023,” Mize said.
Mize said they used to offer 30 different variations of A/C units to customers. But now, he said he is lucky if he can show a customer three different options.
To avoid long wait times, workers are having to strip brand new units to replace parts for customers.
“A $2,000 unit that we’ve got to pull parts off of and get our customer going,” Mize said. “We’re doing everything we can to show we are still there for them.”
There are some simple actions you can do now to avoid calling for a repair.
Southern Trust Homes Services Owner Ted Puzio said to start by changing your air filter.
“They can run to any of the supply houses or some of the larger big boxes and just watch the airflow when you put it in,” Puzio said. “Make sure the arrows are pointed in the correct direction.”
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Puzio also said to clean the outside unit from grass debris and have regular tune-ups.
Mize said to schedule a maintenance check sooner rather than later to help save hundreds to thousands of dollars in repairs.
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