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

While your air conditioning unit is created to withstand the weather, including rain and hail damage, sometimes you need to call your air conditioning repair technician to inspect potential damage. If your air conditioning unit sits in standing water, due to flooding or other unexpected issues, it can cause severe damage to the moving parts and electrical pieces. The water usually has to reach about 15 inches in depth to affect your air conditioner, but if there has been any flooding whatsoever, call Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning for a safety inspection right away.

If severe storms or flooding caused your AC system to sit in standing water, there are a couple of things we suggest doing to avoid further damage or dangerous conditions:

• Deactivate all the electrical controls to your air conditioning system. If you are not comfortable doing this, you can call your air conditioning repair technician to help assist you with the process.
• Allow your air conditioner to dry out. Remove any standing water if possible and cautiously clear any debris from the immediate area.
• Don’t turn your air conditioner back on until a professional air conditioner inspection has been done. Call Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning and ensure your equipment will run safely and effectively with a full AC safety inspection.

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

In addition to April showers, spring also brings hail storms, as well. Every year thousands of commercial and residential air conditioners are damaged by hail. While you can probably see obvious damage from the outside, you may not realize that the damage inside the air conditioner may be causing restricted air flow, obstructing the performance of the system. Sometimes you can fix the AC unit 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 conditioning unit probably won’t get wind damage, other items picked up by the wind, like tree limbs, furniture, or sandboxes, can be thrown, damaging your air conditioning unit.

For a full air conditioning inspection and safety check, call Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning today and we’ll make sure your air conditioner is running safely and efficiently. Help keep your home safe during storm season and make sure to follow these guidelines if your home is under a serious storm warning.