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Air conditioning crews on demand as AC units break in summer heat

Posted at 10:45 PM, Jun 16, 2021
and last updated 2021-06-16 23:45:09-04

WACO, TX — The summer heat has been causing air conditioning units to burn out as people try to seek shelter from the hot temperature.

"The kids are definitely eating a lot more popsicles and we're staying at water parks just as often as possible just to keep cool man, It's starting to get warm but it's Texas and it's only going to get worse," says Jesse Palacios.

Palacios a resident at University Club Apartments in Waco says he lives in one of 14 units where the air conditioning has been broken for a week. Leaving his apartment near 80 degrees.

"It's been a week now, with no real direct AC, it's not cooling it's keeping air circulating. It's still blowing, they added freon to the unit to see if that could possibly be the issue but that wasn't it, and so they're going to have to change out something else and I'm sure they're waiting on parts to get that fixed," says Palacios.

Staff at the leasing office says maintenance is hard at work to repair the units.

Crews with Jacobs-Cathey air conditioning and heating say broken AC's are pretty common this time of year, as temperatures hit the upper 90's and air conditioning units are running into overtime.

"You know the second that the heat index hits 104 like it did this week, you really find out real quick how well your unit is working and it'll shut down and you'll be sitting in a hothouse pretty much," says Jason Rose, a service technician with Jacob's-Cathey.

Rose estimates there have been hundreds if not thousands of calls about broken AC units leaving him and his team trying to keep up with demand.

"We do our best to make sure everybody is covered. And we get to everybody, you know, we always standby our work and we do our best job to make sure you're happy at the end of the day when we leave your place of business or your home," says Rose.

Rose says routine maintenance is the best way to keep your AC working through the summer.

He also warns people not to run their air too cold too quickly, keeping the temperature between 74 and 76 degrees should keep things cool without any issues.

When the temperatures do get dangerously hot, the Salvation Army is there to help.

The center provides emergency cooling relief in Waco at 300 Webster Avenue when the temperature exceeds 95 degrees.

The Community Kitchen is open to provide water, air conditioning and relief.

For more information, call 254-757-1641.