JARRELL, Texas — Sare Kretzler's air conditioner stopped working four weeks ago. She said her parents were in town and she was trying to turn it down. The house stayed at 80 degrees and only got worse with the early summer heat.
A technician came out and eventually discovered the unit needed a new evaporator coil. They would need to order one. Kretzler had hoped to have it working again in a week.
That's not what happened.
"We called, and they told us it could be up to six months," Kretzler said. "That was unexpected."
Kretzler said she tried calling four other companies, but they all said the manufacturer had them on backorder. One company offered to order a new air handler, which would contain the coil but would be more expensive. Either way Kretzler would be waiting up to four more weeks. It was a bit of a shock, as her home is only 6 years old.
"I was just frustrated. There is no way that this is possible when you live in a state this hot. It's been triple digits for weeks now," Kretzler said.
The family is now trying to stay cool by using four different window units, two of which were donated.
Rich Services dispatcher Jessica Baldwin told 6 News parts have been on backorder at the business since December, though the parts tended to to be very specific.
Baldwin said circuit panels and breakers for some systems could be backordered for weeks and certain generators for systems can be backordered for up to a year. She said they've often had to call into other businesses to trying and find a part.
At the same time, it wasn't an issue for every system. Baldwin said the business most often serves Goodman systems and they are still able to make repairs in a timely fashion.
"Most of the time it can be fixed with parts that we are able to get our hands on quickly or that we already have available," Baldwin said. "It really just depends on the system."
Unfortunately the Kretzler family has a Lennox system, though Baldwin said they would look to see if they had any solutions.
Kretzler hopes there is an easier solution for both her family, and her neighbors who have many of the same systems.
"It seems like a lot of people in the neighborhoods have been posting that their units are going out. They are asking if people have ACs to borrow as well. I feel bad that they are probably going to go through the same problem," Kretzler said.