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Over the last few years, the United States has experienced an increased number of extreme weather events like hurricanes that have caused billions of dollars in damages. During such weather events, tremendous losses are suffered by homeowners as they incur significant damage to their homes and vital home comfort accessories like air conditioning systems.
Black-Haak is an industry-leading home services company serving homeowners in Fox Valley and the surrounding areas in Wisconsin. We have built our success on a culture of treating our clients like family. This is why we go out of our way to help them stay informed on how they can take care of their heating, AC, electrical, and plumbing systems and detect any problems early. Here are our expert insights on the signs that your AC has been damaged in a storm.
Ineffective Cooling
After the storm, you might notice that your home has gotten warmer than it was before. This can be because the air coming out of your vents is not as cold as it used to be. This is likely a sign that your AC endured some damage during the storm, and it is not operating as it should.
This damage can be to your outdoor refrigerant line connected to the compressor. When a refrigerant line is damaged, it can lead to a refrigerant leak. The refrigerant absorbs the heat from your home’s air and runs on a closed-loop system. Therefore, a leak will severely affect its ability to remove the maximum amount of heat from the air in your home’s interior.
If the leaking refrigerant problem is not addressed quickly, then it is likely that your AC will develop major issues resulting in higher repair costs and electricity bills. This is because the AC unit will be working harder to try and compensate for the inefficiency caused by the refrigerant leak. At the first sign of leaking fluids from your air conditioning unit, it is important to call a professional HVAC company. In addition to causing poor AC performance, leaking refrigerant can pose a risk to your health and that of your family and pets.
Weird Noises Coming From the AC
Are you hearing any buzzing or rattling noises coming from your HVAC system? The storm likely blew some debris into your outdoor AC unit. The debris can be anything from plastic or metal pieces to twigs and leaves. This can cause damage to the fan, compressor, and other internal components.
Once you notice that your outdoor AC unit might have some debris inside, you should switch off the power for the entire AC system immediately and seek a qualified air conditioning technician to examine it. The debris may have caused minimal damage to your HVAC system, so switching the entire AC unit off quickly will prevent worse problems from occurring.
However, if you let your AC system run while debris is logged in your HVAC system, you can expect the damage to be severe. This can be anything from an acute coolant leak to a significant pressure imbalance within the compressor.
Flooding Around the AC Unit
There is a high probability of flooding around your AC unit if there is a storm in your area. As the HVAC system was not designed to operate with part of it submerged in water, it will have endured some damage by the time it comes to your attention. Go on and turn off the power supply to the HVAC system and contact an experienced AC technician to come and handle the issue.
The longer your AC unit remains exposed to water, the more likely you will have to replace all its electrical components. Once the technician arrives, ask them to also check out your ductwork to ensure that there is no mold growing there. Moisture can lead to mold growth, which will affect your indoor air quality and trigger allergies and other respiratory issues.
Evidence of Power Surges
During storms, power surges from lightning strikes and other factors are common. Such power surges can cause the wires and fuses inside electronic products to burn up and fry capacitors. Evidence of power surges during a storm can be observed in erratically behaving electrical equipment that was working fine before.
If you notice such behavior in your electronics, you should immediately switch off your HVAC system. This is because its wires and fuses are just as susceptible to damage by power surges as other electrical devices. In some cases, the AC system might work well after being exposed to power surges but end up with a severe breakdown sometime later.
For this reason, we advise that you call in a reputable AC technician to inspect your HVAC unit after power surges from a storm, regardless of whether it looks damaged or not. This will likely save you from hefty AC repair costs or even an entire replacement later.
Breaker Box Electrical Problems
Your breaker box plays the crucial role of protecting your electrical system from damage that can be caused by unpredicted complications like overloads or power surges. These overloads usually result from too much high-power equipment being plugged into a single circuit. If you notice that your breaker box keeps tripping even after you reset it, this can be a sign that your AC was damaged during the storm.
Malfunctioning HVAC systems tend to draw more power from the electrical mains to try to regulate the home’s interior temperature as it did before. This increased power draw can result in circuit overloading. Contact a competent AC technician to come and analyze your electrical system as soon as possible.
Let Us Help You Deal With Your AC Storm Damage
As a trusted heating, cooling, electrical, and plumbing company in Fox Valley, we are the ideal team to help you deal with your AC storm damage. At Black-Haak, we offer a generous 100% customer satisfaction guarantee. This means that if you are not happy with the services we provided by the end of the first year, we will grant you back 100% of your money and remove whatever we had installed.
Moreover, we are willing and ready to work with your schedule to ensure that you receive the home comfort services you need without hassles. You will not have to wait the entire day on the agreed date for our technician to show up. Besides this, we offer excellent emergency services, and we will always have someone who will come to your aid in such challenging situations.
In addition to our excellent home comfort services, we also have fantastic discounts and financing options. These include a significantly discounted AC tune-up service and a discount on plumbing repairs. Moreover, if you get us to install your air conditioner, you will get a free furnace inspection. Whether you need heating and cooling maintenance, repair, or installation, or you are looking for a qualified plumber or electrician, you can count on Black-Haak. Call us today to learn about all our current offers and set up an appointment.
