Technicians feel heat early

Dominic Gudknecht doesn't need to look at a thermometer or a weather report to know how hot it is.

Instead, the local air-conditioning technician watches his work days get longer and longer.

"Sometimes I'll work from 7 a.m. to midnight," Gudknecht, a technician for Gibson Air, said early Tuesday. "When it gets over 100 degrees, I work seven days a week."

His long days came surprisingly early this year. Las Vegas hit a record 108 degrees for May 19 on Monday, but predictions of a May 20 record failed to materialize Tuesday as the high reached 101, falling one degree short of tying the record of 102.

The average temperature for this time of year is 89 degrees.

The early hot weather caught many off guard, and local air-conditioning repair companies were swamped.

"At 95 degrees, the calls start," said Jack Close Jr., vice president of Gibson Air. "Once triple digits hit, the walls come down. People are mad and hot. Everybody wants their A/C fixed yesterday."

Close said the company's eight phone lines have been ringing steadily the past several days, keeping his 12 technicians booked from sunup to sundown.

One of those calls came from Mary Perry, a North Las Vegas homeowner whose air conditioner stopped working on Thursday.

"I was thinking that at the rate it's going, I'll have to come out and sleep in my motor home," which has an air conditioner, Perry said Tuesday morning.

The 60-year-old home health nurse had been trying to keep cool inside her home with the use of ceiling and standing fans.

She admitted to fearing the worst about her 1989-model air conditioner.

"Does anybody ever expect to get good news?" she asked Gudknecht.

The air conditioner's compressor was shot, he told her. A new one would set her back about $1,500. Or she could buy and have installed a new air conditioner for about $3,600.

"I just knew it," Perry said.

She decided to buy the new air conditioner because, she said, "I don't believe in putting good money after bad."

Air-conditioning experts recommend replacing older air conditioners rather than continuing to repair them because newer units are much more efficient.

As Gudknecht left her home, Perry half-jokingly told him: "If it doesn't work, I'll hunt you down."

"I love my job. I help people," the 26-year-old Gudknecht said as he headed toward his next appointment. "You'd be surprised how happy they are when I'm leaving and it (the air conditioner) is blowing cold air."

But the gig has some negatives, including "the heat and some of the scary roofs I have to get on," he said.

Gudknecht ends up feeling hot all of the time, even when he is not at work.

"It's like when you have a bad sunburn," he said.

Like Perry, Gudknecht's next client was afraid her 15-year-old air conditioner would have to be replaced.

"I can't really afford a new unit," 64-year-old Olivia Fleming said, adding that she lives on a "very fixed" income.

But the North Las Vegas resident lucked out. Gudknecht told her she just needed a new thermostat. Gibson Air could install one for $325.

Instead, Fleming hopes to save money by asking her nephew to do the work.

People can save both money and headaches by having their air conditioners inspected well before the hot weather sets in, Close said.

He recommended having air-conditioning units checked in April.

If your air conditioner does break down during hot weather, Close said, "please be patient."

"When it hits triple digits, it sends everyone into a frenzy."

Las Vegas will get a brief reprieve from this year's unseasonably hot weather starting today, the National Weather Service said.

A cold front was to move through the area before sunrise, bringing winds with gusts up to 40 miles per hour and a temperature drop of about 20 degrees.

Today's high was forecast around 85 degrees.

Temperatures should drop to about 76 degrees on Thursday, meteorologist Andrew Gorelow said.

Friday's temperature should creep back into the 80s, he said.

The Las Vegas Valley also could get rain on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

"Nothing heavy or prolonged," Gorelow said. "Just isolated or scattered showers."

Review-Journal writer Henry Brean contributed to this report. Contact reporter Lynnette Curtis at lcurtis@reviewjournal. com or 702-383-0285.