Heaters needing repairs after temperatures hit freezing in Tucson area

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Temperatures dropped below freezing last night here in Tucson and caused some heaters to have issues.

Riteway HVAC Service Technician Jorge Aguayo was called to service a heater that stopped working last night.

“Multiple problems were detected with this heating system,” said Aguayo.

He said a leak caused outside air to come inside the home and backup heaters couldn’t turn on because of an issue with the defrost system.

“We do have defrost cycles that allow the system to thaw out any ice,” he said. “If any issues occur during that night, that defrost cycle will not work, and have intermittent issues, causing the customer to not have proper heat.”

Aguayo said these are common problems during this time of year. Riteway offers options for repair, the first being immediate repair.

“They’re looking at their first option from 1100-1500 dollars,” he said.

He said this could have been prevented with a maintenance check, which is recommended before the weather gets too extreme.

“For the last two years there have been supply and demand issues and something that comes in hand is part availability,” he said.

Maintenance checks are recommended every six months, but one thing you can do right from your home if you have a furnace is to check your carbon monoxide detector.