AC Repair Westchase, FL: HVAC and Air Conditioning Service

After Hurricanes Helene and Milton, the historic rainfall completely overwhelmed the Hillsborough County stormwater system and damaged some stormwater infrastructure. County Public Works pipe crews replaced a side drain and restored a ditch in a Westchase community to bring stormwater flow back.

What that means for your system:

• Water around the outdoor unit. If water rose around the condenser, do not restart the system yourself. Water that reached the electrical connections, the contactor or the fan motor needs a technician's inspection before the unit runs again.
• Condensate drainage. Heavy rain and silt can load up the drain lines and the ground where the condensate drains out. A clogged condensate line is one of the most common reasons a float switch shuts a system down, and the shutdown is its job. It stops water from overflowing into the ceiling or closet.
• Debris. Storm wind can push leaves, branches and fencing into a condenser coil or bend its fins. Blocked airflow raises head pressure and strains the compressor.

Our guide to protecting coils near the coast covers the coil-care side of storm and moisture exposure in more detail.

Heavy rain in Westchase did not start with Milton. The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office once warned drivers to avoid a portion of Westchase because heavy flooding made driving unsafe. Residents were also told once that a low pressure system could drop as much as 7 inches of rain in some areas.

The community's own planning has addressed this for years. When Westchase's two community development districts were merged, flood concerns were labeled an issue of "critical importance" and street intersections were described as low areas prone to flooding.

For a homeowner, the point is practical. Where water collects, the equipment around it deserves a look. Check where your outdoor unit sits relative to the surrounding grade and whether your drain lines discharge somewhere that can back up.

Westchase was described as a master-planned, deed-restricted community in northwest Hillsborough County with 3,478 homes in 29 neighborhoods. Across that many homes in that many neighborhoods, systems will differ in age, size and layout, and so will their problems. That is the reason for diagnosing each system on its own instead of guessing from the address. If your neighborhood has an association, ask whether it needs to approve exterior equipment changes before a replacement is scheduled.

Tampa Electric serves the area, and Westchase has had outages before. Parts of Westchase have lost power, with about 450 residents reporting outages while crews worked on the repair. Outages matter for an air conditioner because power returning is hard on a compressor. A sound practice after any outage is to leave the thermostat off for a few minutes and then restart. If a unit trips breakers or hums without starting afterward, that is a reason to call.

Two federal definitions come up after flooding, and they come from FEMA, not from the county.

• Substantial improvement is reconstruction, rehabilitation, addition or other improvement of a structure whose cost equals or exceeds 50 percent of the structure's market value before the improvement starts.
• Substantial damage is damage of any origin where the cost of restoring a building to its before-damaged condition equals or exceeds 50 percent of its market value before the damage.

If your home flooded, ask the county's Development Services how these definitions apply to your property before assuming anything about a replacement. Elevating a home and/or utilities and raising electrical system components are among the ways to protect a property from flooding in Hillsborough County. If your outdoor unit or air handler is being replaced, the location of the new equipment is a good moment to raise this with your contractor.

The effective date of the Florida Building Code, 8th Edition (2023), is December 31, 2023. Replacement work in Westchase is done under the code in force when the permit is pulled, which is another reason to use a licensed contractor who handles permitted work.