As temperatures climb, Triangle air conditioning businesses stay busy

As the temperatures climb, Triangle air conditioning businesses are staying busy.

"It's nonstop now," said David Wayne Turner, Technician at Air Experts Heating & Cooling in Raleigh. "With the temperatures, once they get above 85 degrees, all those air conditioners come on for the first time and people realize, 'oh it's not working from the winter. It's been sitting dormant,' when they turn it on for that first time and we get those first hot days, everything really kicks into gear."

"It's kind of the first hot spell that we got," said Jason Litvak, HVAC Manager at Michael & Son Services in Raleigh. "So every year when that happens, all the systems that were on the verge of breaking down last year are breaking down and as hot as it is, the new systems are also breaking down, the ones that weren't having trouble last year."

Wake Forest resident Shelly Pagliarello called Air Experts after she said her second-floor became hot.

"We looked at the thermostat," Pagliarello said. "It was at 81 degrees so we tried turning it down and obviously nothing happened. We then realized that it's time to call the service people."

With the heat, Duke Energy is seeing elevated usage this week and some isolated power outages, spokesman Jeff Brooks said.

"That's not unusual this time of year, especially as the grid is getting its first stretch of the year, if you will, with the summer heat, but overall we've been able to meet customer demand and we believe that we'll be able to meet that demand throughout this temperature spread," Brooks said.

While the increased usage is putting a strain on the system, Brooks said the system has been able to handle it.

"When we have record usage periods, it's usually after a period of high heat like this, but even though the temperatures have been high, we're still a good ways away from the record we set in 2007 here in the Raleigh area. We do expect that won't be broken during this stretch."

Litvak said if your AC is not working, you should check two things before calling a technician.

"They want to check their filters," Litvak said. "One of the big calls that we get is people don't change their filters and what ends up happening is the unit freezes up, stops all the airflow and then the system breaks down. The other good thing to check if the system is not working is to check your breakers and make sure none of the breakers are tripped."

Pagliarello is relieved her air conditioner is fixed.

"I feel good about it," Pagliarello said. "I do. I'm just glad it's over."