The house
How to Keep the Air Conditioner Alive Through a Heat Wave
What to do when every shop is booked and the system you have still has to finish the week.
In a heat wave the schedule is the constraint. The system you already own has to get you to the appointment. These are the things that keep a tired unit from dying on the hottest day.
Give it air and a realistic setpoint
Clear two feet around the outdoor unit. No new mulch piled on the pad, no cover, no grill pushed against the coil. Filter clean. Vents open. Setpoint at a temperature the house has held before, not a heroic 68.
Close blinds on the west glass. Run the bath fans after showers. Moisture is half the load. A dehumidifier does not fix a dead compressor, but a house that is only warm is livable if it is not also wet.
Do not do this
Do not hose a running fan. Do not spray the coil with a coil cleaner from a big-box shelf and walk away. Do not keep resetting a breaker that trips immediately. That is how motors burn.
If it is icing, shutting off, or the breaker will not hold, stop and call a shop. Say you need independent AC repair and ask who answers the phone. A featured listing is still the shop's own number.
Ready to call a shop? Find independent AC repair by city.