LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – Many Las Vegas Valley residents are turning on their air conditioning units for the first time this year and HVAC technicians are keeping busy.
With rising temperatures, 8 News Now spent some time with an HVAC technician to get a look at the workload that’s starting to increase.
Several valley residents shared their experiences on how they manage their AC systems as the temperatures rise while keeping costs at a manageable level.
“Usually, every other year it’s a new episode, Terrence Bligen southwest valley resident said. Something always happens so; I expect the worst.”
Bligen said he makes sure to get yearly maintenance checkups because of this.
Bumble Breeze Technician, Omar Martinez let 8 News Now tag along on the job as he was on a maintenance call.
“As of right now we are getting a lot of calls so I think people are seeing how hot it’s starting to get, and they want to get ready before summer really hits us,” Martinez explained.
Martinez said people often turn off their AC when they are away from the house, but what that is doing is making the unit work twice as hard when it’s eventually turned back on so it’s best to just increase the temperature when you are away and lower it when you return home.
Southwest Valley resident Amanda Philbrick is enjoying the warmer weather and has already turned on her AC.
‘’We keep it at a certain setting during the day when we are not home obviously,” Philbrick added. “We can’t let it get too hot because we do have animals.”
Another common mistake Martinez sees is property owners not changing their filters every two months.
“You can think about your filters, like your veins. If it’s clogged up just like a clogged vein, it’s going to affect the arteries and going to affect the whole system,” Martinez added.
Technicians said it is best to keep room temperatures at 74 degrees. The lower the temperature is, the harder it’s going to work raising energy bills in the process.
