Reporter: Paul Dolan
•6/17/2026
FORT MYERS, Fla. (WINK) — As heat and humidity build, repair crews say problems inside air conditioning systems can build too.
After a couple of hours repairing it, the AC unit is finally working again. As Southwest Florida prepares for a few scorching days in a row, Big Air Heat and AC says the upcoming heat and humidity can expose problems before homeowners ever see them coming.
Before the cold air comes back, you have to find the problem. A technician with the company offered advice for homeowners.
"If you notice any significant corrosion around the bottom of it, you might want to get someone out there to check that out, see if it's a small leak that might turn into a bigger one," the technician said.
That hum of a working AC is what homeowners are counting on as temperatures climb higher. The most frequent calls the company sees involve drain lines and capacitors.
"The high humidity really puts a toll on your drain line; it's just a lot of water going through there 24/7, which builds up slime inside the pipe," Joseph Swafford said.
Swafford is the owner of Big Air Heat and AC. He says this is the time of year a neglected AC starts asking for attention—more run time, more strain, more chances for the system to fail.
"As too much of it builds up and it gets stuck in a pocket or something like that, it'll clog the drain line. No more water will be able to flow out, and then it'll either overflow and cause water damage," Swafford said.
Right now, summer makes a simple demand: keep running. When a unit works nonstop in the heat, certain components face the greatest risk.
"When a unit's working nonstop in the heat, it's usually going to be something like a motor or a capacitor. If it's running non-stop, the motors can often overheat," Swafford said.
Big Air tells WINK News a working AC can still be an AC under stress. That's why they want homeowners to check the basics before a small issue turns into a hot house and a higher bill.
