Not every air conditioning problem is urgent, and knowing the difference saves money in both directions. Calling after hours for something that could have waited until morning costs more than it needed to. Waiting on something that could not costs a compressor, a ceiling, or, in a Hampton Roads heat wave, someone’s health. Here is how we sort them, and what to do while you wait for the technician.
Reach out right away
- A burning smell, a hot plastic smell, or smoke from any part of the system, after shutting it off at the breaker.
- A breaker that trips again after you reset it, since it is protecting a circuit with a fault on it, and faults in cooling equipment are a fire risk. Our electricians and cooling technicians can address both on one visit.
- Hissing or bubbling near the refrigerant lines, oily residue on the lines or around the outdoor unit, or ice on the lines on a hot day, because refrigerant is escaping and a system running low on it destroys its compressor.
- Water coming through a ceiling below an attic air handler or spreading across a floor from a closet unit, since every hour the water runs the house absorbs it, and in coastal humidity mold follows within days.
- No cooling when the heat index is over 100, especially with an infant, an older adult, a pregnant woman, or anyone with a heart or breathing condition in the house, because a closed house here climbs into the upper 80s within hours.
- Grinding, banging, or screeching from either unit, which means a motor or fan is failing in a way that damages whatever is around it, so the system should stay off until someone has seen it.
Reach out this week
- Air at the vents that is cool instead of cold on an ordinary day.
- A system running much longer than it used to in the same weather.
- A musty odor every time the system starts.
- The outdoor unit humming without the fan turning, which is a capacitor about to take the compressor with it, so turn the system off at the thermostat and let us know.
- Water standing in the drain pan that has not spilled over yet.
All of these are small air conditioning repairs now and larger ones in a few weeks, and all of them fit a scheduled appointment rather than an after-hours one.
Schedule it normally
A bedroom a couple of degrees warmer than the rest of the house, a power bill that has crept up, a thermostat that seems to read a degree off, or a filter you cannot remember changing are reasons to book a maintenance visit rather than to call at night. They are also the early stages of many of the problems above, which is the case for a maintenance plan that catches them in spring.
Why we sort it this way
We would rather you not pay after-hours rates for something that could have waited until the next morning, and we would far rather you not lose a compressor or a ceiling by waiting on something that could not. Sorting calls into these groups protects your budget in both directions, and it lets us get to the homes that need someone soonest.
While you wait
Once you have called, a few steps protect the house and the equipment until the technician arrives. If you noticed an electrical smell, ice, or grinding, leave the system off until someone has seen it. If water is the problem, keep the system off and move anything sitting under the leak. If the system is running normally but not cooling, it is fine to leave it on, but do not drop the thermostat to force it, since the system cools at one rate regardless. Draw the blinds, skip the oven and dryer, and run the ceiling fans. If the heat is a danger to someone in the house, gather in the coolest room, keep drinking water, and consider whether a neighbor, a relative, or an air-conditioned public building is the better place to wait out the afternoon.
How to reach us
Russell’s American Mechanical has served Hampton Roads since 1977. Call us and we will arrange a same-day appointment when the day allows; after hours, our answering service takes the call so we can reach you first thing. You can also schedule online or through the website chat. Members of the Premium Home Care Agreement receive priority response when a covered system fails along with reduced rates on the repair, and every technician who arrives is trained to diagnose, explain, and lay out the options at everyday pricing before any work begins.