The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all of us in a number of unique and different ways. For many of us, this has meant being forced to work from home. For others, it has meant the total shutdown and loss of work altogether. It’s also radically changed the way we use our homes and how we live in them, as we now spend even more time there. What this has also meant is that people are beginning to see things wrong with their home and have begun to have them fixed with greater urgency due to their being far more important now than perhaps ever before.
One thing we’ve seen a significant uptick in is the number of people who need to have their air conditioner replaced. With summer temperatures here and seemingly no end to the pandemic in sight, plenty of people have opted to replace their AC with a new, energy-efficient model in order to improve their at-home comfort. However, many of these people are also seeing just how much the HVAC industry has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, as they’re being told they are being put on a waitlist in order to get their new system.
In the past, most customers would be able to get their new systems within as little as a few days or so. Today, that wait might be several weeks to even a month or more thanks to a sudden shortage of available equipment. Here are a few reasons why.
HVAC Equipment Manufacturers Were Closed for Weeks
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of the manufacturing plants and factories producing HVAC equipment across the country were temporarily shut down. In order to try and protect the safety of their workers and their products, assembly lines fell silent, machines stopped working, and workers were told to stay home for a little while. For some companies, these closures even lasted several weeks at a time. All the while, the orders kept piling up for these factories as suppliers and dealers kept sending more and more of them in.
While most of these factories have all opened up once again, some are still running on diminished operation strength or at a limited capacity due to social distancing restrictions or in order to accommodate for additional safety precautions. As a result, that giant stack of outstanding orders is still sitting there. While companies have filled some of their earliest requests, those orders have been replaced by new ones, leading to a seemingly endless cycle of trying to speed up production to fulfill all outstanding orders. And there’s something else contributing to this as well…
Supply Lines Have been Affected by COVID-19 Restrictions
While many HVAC equipment manufacturers are based right here in the USA, they source many of their parts from abroad. That means even the smallest bits like copper tubing, fasteners, and sheet metal could very well be coming to those manufacturing plants from across state lines or even across international boundaries. Mexico has become a huge hotspot for factories and manufacturing in the United States, but with the closure of the southern border, supply lines have all been heavily impacted.
As a result, many manufacturers are falling even further behind on production numbers and that means there just aren’t as many replacement systems to go around. Manufacturers are rushing to get as many units out to their various distribution plants around the country, but those numbers can’t keep up with the sheer number of people who are ordering new HVAC equipment. As a result, people are finding that there’s going to be a bit of a wait before they can have their new system installed. And that’s also partially because of our last point…
More & More People Are Spending More Time at Home
Throughout this pandemic, more and more people have been spending more time at home. When they’ve been spending more time at home, they’ve been running their HVAC equipment more. That means more systems are breaking down, and more people are also opting to take the plunge and invest in a more energy-efficient system. As a result, the demand for new systems has gone up while the supply has dwindled drastically.
Eventually, this shortage will level out and things will go back to normal. However, in the meantime, don’t be surprised if you’re told that you have to wait a bit in order to have your new system installed. If you want to avoid this sudden rush, make sure your air conditioner is in good condition with a thorough inspection and tune-up service in order to improve efficiency and reliability throughout the summer months.
Schedule your new system installation or a maintenance appointment by calling Pro Energy Solutions at (800) 704-7340 today!
