SAN DIEGO — With all the heat we’re experiencing in San Diego, air conditioning repair services are in high demand, and it can take up to several weeks to schedule a visit. On Friday, CBS 8’s Brian White rode along with an A/C technician on a service call to a home in La Mesa.
“I’m running calls sometimes all the way until 9:00 p.m. at night because of the heat. As soon as it started, calls started happening,” said Steve Willmore, General Manager and lead technician at Progressive Heating & Air.
Most HVAC companies are experiencing high call volumes for service, and Willmore says sometimes it can take two weeks to schedule a repair.
“We try to get out there to our customers,” said Willmore. “We try to have enough techs so we can at least give you a band-aid until we can get a repair on the system because there’s elders, there’s children out there.”
CBS 8 watched Willmore open up an outdoor compressor unit and give it a good cleaning with a vacuum and water hose.
“Just going to start from the top, you see that dirt coming out of there? Going down to the bottom of that tray, look at that,” said Willmore as he sprayed the hose.
After the compressor unit was cleaned out, Willmore headed inside the customer’s home to change the filter and run temperature checks on the system.
“From the filter all the way to the duct system all the way out to your compressor, your evaporator coil, all of that is key, and like I said, a dirty filter causes dirty things inside your system, also causes restriction inside your system,” said Willmore. “Filters are very important, do not neglect them, please, or you’ll be calling me.”
Most of the work performed by Willmore fell under a general tune-up, which starts at $69 dollars, but detailed cleaning on the inside of the compressor unit and a capacitor part he changed out added several hundred dollars more to the bill. As for how he deals with working in the summer heat, Willmore says it can be challenging at times, but he is always happy to put a smile on a customer’s face.
“Usually it’s super hot and when we’re in the attics, we’re getting beat up, but like I said, we’re so busy because of this heat,” said Willmore.
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