TYLER, Texas (KLTV) – East Texans are settling into the dog days of summer, with heat index readings reaching 100 degrees and higher in recent days, putting added strain on home air conditioning systems.<\/p>\n
Jamie Lowe, general manager of ETR Air Conditioning and Heating, said the best way to avoid a breakdown during peak heat is routine maintenance year-round. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn East Texas, the most common service calls are condensate drains, backed up blown capacitors, dirty evaporator coils, dirty condenser coils, just mostly the simple things that compound this time of year,\u201d he explained. \u201cAnd the heat brings out the little simple problems now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lowe warned clogged condensate lines can lead to costly water damage, including ruined sheetrock, furniture and garage belongings.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best thing people can do is have a licensed contractor service their unit twice a year,\u201d he said. \u201cA simple preventative maintenance plan is usually the cost of one minor service call, and it\u2019s a fraction of the cost of a major service call.\u201d<\/p>\n
Homeowners can also help by changing or checking air filters monthly, keeping the outdoor unit clear of shrubs and clutter, and gently rinsing condenser coils if they\u2019re packed with dirt.<\/p>\n
Lowe said SWEPCO\u2019s energy efficiency specialists say reducing heat gain can also ease the load and lower bills. <\/p>\n
Suggestions include closing blinds or using blackout curtains during the hottest part of the day and opening windows on opposite sides of the house to create a cross breeze when temperatures drop.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 KLTV. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TYLER, Texas (KLTV) – East Texans are settling into the dog days of summer, with heat index readings…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386588,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[61448,2604,136291,3205,27,29,28,4065,136290,9011],"class_list":["post-386587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-air-conditioning","tag-east-texas","tag-etr-air-conditioning","tag-heat","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-tips","tag-tricks","tag-tyler"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}