Emergency air conditioning repair

When to use the emergency line

Some air conditioning faults can wait for a normal booking. Others can’t. Our 24/7 emergency line is there for the breakdowns that are causing real harm or real risk right now. Typical reasons to call are:

• A server room, comms room or data cupboard where the temperature is climbing.
• A hotel, care setting, surgery or shop left without cooling in hot weather.
• Water pouring from an indoor unit onto ceilings, floors, stock or equipment.
• A burning smell, scorching, tripping electrics or a unit that is sparking.
• Loud grinding, banging or screeching from an indoor or outdoor unit.

If the problem is a gentle drop in performance, an error code on a system you can manage without for a day or two, or a unit that needs its annual service, book a standard air conditioning repair or service instead.

Make it safe before anything else

A faulty unit left running can turn a small repair into a big one. While you wait for help:

1. Switch the system off at the controller, then at the isolator switch if you can reach it safely, if there is water leaking, a burning smell, smoke or a loud mechanical noise.
2. Don’t touch damaged wiring or open the unit casing. Leave any electrical fault to us.
3. Contain water with towels or a bucket and move electrical equipment, stock and furniture out of the way.
4. Take a photo of any error code or flashing lights on the indoor unit or controller, and of the model label if you can see it.
5. For server rooms, follow your own shutdown or failover plan, open doors to the room if your security policy allows, and move portable equipment if you have to.

If anyone has been hurt or there is a fire, call 999 first.

What happens when you call

Call 07833 053749. Tell us where the system is, what it serves, the make and model if you know it, what it is doing and any error code. That information lets the engineer think about the likely cause and the parts that might be needed before setting off. We’ll tell you when we can get to you and what the call-out charge is before we book the visit, so there are no surprises.

We don’t make blanket promises about how quickly we will arrive. It depends on where you are in London and the South East, the time of day and how many other breakdowns are already booked. What we will do is give you an honest time on the phone and keep you updated if it changes. For written enquiries, we reply the same working day.

Diagnosis and repair on site

The engineer starts by making the system safe and finding out what has actually failed. That usually means reading the fault codes, checking the power supply and electrical connections, checking the fans, the condensate drain and any condensate pump, and measuring the refrigerant pressures and temperatures. A unit that has stopped completely might have a tripped supply, a failed board or sensor, or a compressor protection fault. Water usually means a blocked drain or a failed pump, but it can also come from ice melting off a coil.

Once we know the cause, we tell you what it is, what it will take to fix and what it will cost, before the repair goes ahead. Where the parts are on hand, we repair on the visit. Where a part has to be ordered, we make the system as safe and useful as we can in the meantime and agree the return visit with you. Refrigerant work is leak tested and recorded in the F-Gas records, as it would be on any repair.

Keeping critical rooms cool while parts arrive

Server rooms and other critical spaces can’t always wait for a part. If a repair needs a return visit, we can talk through temporary cooling through our air conditioning hire service, sized to the room and the heat it has to remove. Temporary units need a power supply, a way to get rid of the hot air and somewhere for condensate to go, so it helps if you can tell us about the room’s windows, doors and sockets when you call.

For the longer term, critical rooms are best served by a design that doesn’t rely on a single unit. Our server room air conditioning page explains the options, including a second unit that can take over if the first one fails.

Preventing the next emergency

Most emergency call-outs we see have a warning sign behind them: a drain that was slow for weeks, filters that were never cleaned, a unit that had been short of refrigerant for a whole season, or a system that hadn’t been serviced for years. Regular servicing catches those problems while they are cheap and easy to fix. For businesses, a maintenance contract books the visits and leak checks in advance and keeps the records together, so nothing is missed.

After an emergency repair, we’ll tell you whether anything else on the system looked close to failing, so you can plan for it instead of waiting for the next breakdown.

What it costs

Standard repair call-outs for diagnosis start from £75 + VAT. Emergency and out-of-hours visits are confirmed on the phone when you call, before we book anything. The repair itself is priced once the engineer has found the cause, and you agree it before the work goes ahead. Parts, refrigerant and access, such as a high-level outdoor unit, all affect the final cost.