AC on the fritz? Prices and repair times are rising, but there’s help on the way

It can happen any day, at any moment: Your home’s air conditioning unit dies, and now it’s a race against time and sweat to fix or replace it.

You don’t have days to wait or shop around, especially when the heat is as brutal as it’s been this summer.

These days, it’s more costly to fix or replace an AC unit than it was two years ago, and it might take longer for the cavalry to arrive. Local schools are looking to help solve at least part of the problem.

Costs for new AC systems, like many durable goods, have increased sharply over the past two years thanks to supply shortages, higher labor costs, a new form of refrigerant mandated by the federal government and increased demand by thousands of new residents moving into Florida.

Your immediate move is to call an air conditioning technician to see if your aging unit can be saved, if you can find one.

“Especially in South Florida, demand is booming,” says Adam Ross, executive director of South Florida Academy of Air Conditioning. “There are more service calls than there are technicians.”

Eddie Johnson, owner of PMI Air Conditioning in Deerfield Beach, says rising labor costs are a major factor in the increased prices of new systems, especially in large markets like New York, California and Florida.

A typical 3-ton system split between a compressor unit outside and an air handler inside that cost $4,500 installed in 2018 now costs at least $8,000 in South Florida, Johnson said.

Workers who were happy to make $20 an hour to install it five years ago are now commanding $50 an hour, he said.

Costs of the units, he said, have increased in recent years due to supply chain shortages and upgrades to components within the systems.

And this year, beginning last Jan. 1, the minimum energy efficiency rating for all newly installed split-system units increased, and new systems must use a new refrigerant — the gas that creates the cooling effect as it cycles through the system — called R-454B that doesn’t harm the Earth’s ozone layer.

The refrigerant in use in systems installed before Jan. 1, called R410A, which harms the ozone layer if it leaks out, will still be available for the life of those systems. But prices might increase as it becomes less common, Johnson said.

Meanwhile, higher prices for new systems incentivize homeowners to keep their existing systems alive as long as possible.

Academy cranks out repair techs

If you’re facing an AC emergency, chances are good the technician who comes to your door is a graduate of the South Florida Academy of Air Conditioning, a four-week program that trains workers for careers that can never be replaced by computers or artificial intelligence.

The school is one of several beckoning workers into a career that will be in demand as long as Florida remains above water.

In 2022, the nation had 30,000 fewer HVAC technicians than it needs, said academy founder Stephan Buckley, in a video posted on the school’s website.

“The reason is twofold,” he said. “One is its hard to get young people interested in the HVAC business, and as the older people retire, there’s not someone taking their place.”

To interest younger people in HVAC careers, the academy hosts orientation meetings every other Saturday and describe how simple AC systems actually are, and how much money students will be able to make in the industry.

Salaries for trained HVAC workers start at $37,000 and top out at $120,000, according to Salary.com. The average salary is $77,500. Workers who go into business for themselves can make from $100,000 to $150,000, Buckley said.

Ross said graduates earn $18 to $22 an hour starting out but within six to 12 months that can rise to $25 to $30 if employers want to keep them. “There’s a lot of poaching,” he said.

While colleges offer certificate courses that take 10 to 12 months to complete, the academy offers four-week programs that teach students to install, maintain and repair HVAC systems — and qualifies them to go to work immediately after graduation, Ross said.

We don’t read books. We don’t watch videos. All you do is the common repairs to these air conditioning systems that make them go from broken to running again,” Buckley said.

Located on West Commercial Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, the academy has graduated about 1,500 technicians since its founding in 2010, he said.

The program offers two four-week courses – a 185-hour schedule with classes running Monday through Friday, or a 60-hour schedule with classes held on Saturday and Sunday.

Each entails about an hour of instruction each day, followed by hands-on work on 24 major-brand air conditioning units in the academy’s lab.

John Schmel, 32, a former restaurant and bar worker who graduated from the academy’s most recent program, said, “There’s not a single component you do not touch, that you don’t know what it’s for, how to test it and how to replace it.”

Students graduate by taking tests that get them certified by the Environmental Protection Agency to work with refrigerants. The academy creates and sends out resumes on their students’ behalf, then invites 20 or so companies to meet graduates at a job fair.

Hot commodity

Schmel was hired by Lindstrom Air Conditioning & Plumbing in Pompano Beach before he graduated. Of the 36 students in his class, “I don’t think there was a single one who didn’t have a job to go to the following Monday,” he said.

Schmel decided to take the course after talking with his dad about his desire for a change from the bar business. “He said, ‘Think about what people need. Think about where you are, also.’ He brought to my attention that it would be pretty miserable to go all day and night without AC in South Florida.”

He just finished his 11th day on the job and says he doesn’t mind working in the heat. Although he’s strictly making repairs now, he plans to move into installing new units as soon as he can and would eventually like to go into business for himself someday.

The fact that today’s young people aren’t interested in HVAC work is “sad,” he said. But the shortage of workers and escalating prices for those willing to work in the field amounts to job security, he said. “The work will always be there if you are an AC tech.”

Ron Hurtibise covers business and consumer issues for the South Florida Sun Sentinel. He can be reached by phone at 954-356-4071, on Twitter @ronhurtibise or by email at rhurtibise@sunsentinel.com.