HVAC companies are navigating an influx of calls, as Florida’s cold winter weather has been a reality for days.

Action News Jax reporter Kennedy Dendy followed a technician with Snyder Air Conditioning, Plumbing and Electric on a home visit to learn more about what customers are dealing with.

Julie Schuneman has lived in her Jacksonville home for 25 years.

“Yesterday afternoon the unit outside started making a horrendous racket,” Schuneman said. “I was convinced the fans were going to fly off into space.”

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So she called Snyder.

“They always take good care of me,” Schuneman said.

After meeting with a technician, she learned her compressor was failing, which supplies the heat and cooling for the whole system.

She’ll need a major repair or possibly a replacement.

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Vice President Tim Wood said between Saturday and Sunday — over 400 phone calls came into their office.

“There has been a really huge impact on our call center, as well as our techs in the field,” Wood said.

While some callers over the past few days required home visits, Wood says others only needed education about their systems.

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“You might hear your system going through some weird sounds that you don’t normally hear,” Wood said. “With heat pumps, that’s totally normal. Just keep an eye on your thermostat. If it starts to lose temperature from what you have it set on, that’s a good sign that you might have an issue going on.”

He said the cold weather has put a strain on equipment, and it’s important to get routine maintenance on your systems.

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The post HVAC firms inundated with calls amid chilly temperatures appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

OAKLAND (KPIX) – During the COVID lockdown, record numbers of people brought new pets into their homes, in many cases from animal shelters and rescues.

With COVID restrictions lifted and people back to work, shelters are now seeing the opposite – a record number of people wanting to give up their dogs.

Rocket Dog Rescue in Oakland currently has so many dogs that they have set up makeshift kennels in their lobby.

“We got too full almost overnight. The shelters are overloaded, ”said Pali Boucher, founder of Rocket Dog Rescue.

She founded Rocket Dog 20 years ago and said she saw a record number of people wanting to give up their dogs. She receives dozens of emails and SMS requests every day.

“I’ve never had so many re-homings!” She said.

Boucher says two things happen: some people adopted dogs when the lockdown began and don’t want a dog’s responsibility now that they work or travel again; others are simply dealing with the hardship caused by the pandemic.

“I would say that 60 percent of the move requests we are getting now are people being evicted from their homes – evicted or having to take care of an older parent or move back in with a family member,” Bouchercher said.

It’s a trend that is spreading across the Bay Area. Contra Costa Animal Services says their owner drop-outs are also increasing at 23 in April, 32 in May and 40 in June.

“It’s just awful. I don’t think any of the rescues or shelters were prepared for this, ”Boucher said.

At the same time, she says that they see fewer people who want to adopt.

“We went to a couple of adoption events and everyone would love the pups, but they weren’t adopted,” she said.

Boucher says that by the time the trend reverses, she and other rescue groups will do everything possible to make room for dogs in need of new homes, even if that means keeping puppies in the lobby.

The post Animal Shelters Inundated With ‘Pandemic Pups’ as Adoptive Homeowners’ Consideration Lags – CBS San Francisco appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.