While your air conditioner is created to withstand the elements, including rain and hail damage, there are times when you need to call your AC maintenance technician to inspect potential damage. If your air conditioning unit sits in standing water, due to a torrential downpour or other unexpected issues, it can cause terrible damage to the moving parts and electrical components. The water usually has to reach about a foot in depth to affect your air conditioner, but if there has been any flooding whatsoever, call BW/Cook Service Experts for an AC inspection immediately.
If intense rainfall or flooding caused your air conditioning unit to sit in standing water, there are a handful of things we recommend doing to avoid further damage or a dangerous environment:
- Disable all the electrical controls for your air conditioning system. If you are not comfortable with this, you can call your AC maintenance technician to help help you complete the process.
- Allow your air conditioner to dry out. Get rid of any standing water if possible and safely clear any debris from the immediate area.
- Leave your AC system off until a professional air conditioning inspection has been completed. Call BW/Cook Service Experts and ensure your equipment will work safely and effectively with a full air conditioner safety inspection.
CAUTION: Do not cover your outdoor heating and cooling systems with a tarp. This can actually cause more problems, including not allowing the air conditioner to air out completely and remove moisture, potentially causing rust or other damage.
In addition to April showers, spring escorts in hail storms, also. Every year thousands of commercial and residential AC units are damaged by hail. While you can normally see obvious damage from the outside, you may not notice that the damage inside the air conditioning unit may be causing restricted air flow, hindering the performance of the system. Sometimes you can fix the air conditioning system more easily, by combing the fins or replacing the coil, but an insurance company’s claim breakdown showed that around a tenth of air conditioners damaged by hail had to be fully replaced.
High winds tend to accompany storms and while your AC system probably won’t get wind damage, other objects picked up by the wind, like tree limbs, trash cans, or unattached enclosures, can be thrown, damaging your system.
For a full AC inspection and safety check, call BW/Cook Service Experts today and we’ll make sure your air conditioner is working safely and efficiently. Help keep your home safe during storm season and make sure to follow these guidelines if your neighborhood is under a serious storm warning.