PORTLAND, Oregon — With fans and air conditioners working overtime during this week's heat wave, experts say it’s important to make sure your system can withstand the next blast of extreme weather.
"It's very busy. We're running more service calls that we've ever run," said Andrew Scheidt, general manager of Central Air Heating, Cooling & Plumbing.
To avoid maintenance emergencies, Scheidt suggested yearly maintenance calls for both heating and cooling systems. He also said owners can help themselves by replacing their air filters, quarterly.
"A dirty filter is going to restrict the airflow and it's going to slow it down," said Scheidt. "It's going to cause that unit to work a lot harder than it needs to, it's going to even cause that air conditioner to possibly freeze up if it's continually running."
Scheidt said when it's back-to-back-to-back hot days like we've had, it's hard enough on a cooling system. Add to that, no cool-downs at night, and the fact that many homes are more energy efficient, now.
"Because of that, [homes] do keep the heat in but in the summertime — they keep the heat in," quipped Scheidt.
Scheidt noted that because of the heat wave, crews are running about a week out for service calls —though depending on the emergency, sometimes same day appointments are possible.
"When we do get in there and we help people, we celebrate it," said Scheidt.
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