What To Do If Your Air Conditioning System Experiences Flooding or Hail Damage

While your air conditioner is created to withstand all sorts of conditions, including precipitation and storm damage, sometimes you need to call your air conditioning repair technician to inspect likely damage. If your air conditioning unit sits in standing water, due to a torrential downpour or other unexpected issues, it can cause significant damage to the moving parts and electrical pieces. The water usually has to reach about 15 inches in depth to affect your AC system, but if there has been any flooding period, call Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning for an AC inspection right away.

If heavy showers or flooding caused your air conditioner to sit in standing water, there are a couple of things we suggest doing to avoid additional damage or dangerous conditions:

• Disable all the electrical controls to your air conditioner. If you are not comfortable turning off your switches, you can call your air conditioning service company to help help you complete the process.
• Allow your air conditioning equipment to dry out. Remove any standing water if possible and carefully clear any debris from the immediate area.
• Don’t turn your air conditioner back on until a professional AC inspection has been performed. Call Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning and ensure your equipment will operate safely and effectively with a full AC safety inspection.

NOTE: Do not cover your outdoor heating and cooling systems with a tarp. This may actually cause more damage, including not allowing the unit to air out properly and remove moisture, possibly causing rust or other damage.

In addition to rain, spring escorts in hail storms, as well. Annually thousands of commercial and residential AC units are in need of repair because of hail. While you can typically see obvious damage from the outside, you may not notice that the damage inside the air conditioner may be causing restricted air flow, hindering the performance of the system. Sometimes you can fix the air conditioner more easily, by combing the fins or replacing the coil, but an insurance company’s claim breakdown showed that around one out of ten of air conditioning units damaged by hail had to be entirely replaced.

Strong winds tend to accompany storms and while your air conditioner probably won’t get wind damage, other objects picked up by the wind, like tree branches, furniture, or children’s outdoor toys, can be thrown, damaging your system.

For a full air conditioning inspection and safety check, call Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning today and we’ll make sure your air conditioning unit 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.