Tell us what your AC, heater, water heater, or drain is doing, and we’ll tell you the likely cause, what you can safely check yourself, and whether it’s worth calling us tonight.
Every HVAC and Plumbing problem starts as a symptom: a noise, a smell, a drip, or a room that won’t cool. Start here if:
AC not cooling, blowing warm air, or refusing to turn on? Phoenix heat gives an air conditioner no margin for error, so find your symptom below for the likely cause, the checks you can safely make yourself, and the point where it’s time to call.
Running nonstop but the house keeps getting warmer? Six causes, starting with the two you can check in five minutes.
No fan, no hum, nothing at all. Check the breaker, the outdoor disconnect, and the drain pan before you call.
Warm air at the vents points to a setting, the outdoor unit, or refrigerant. Here’s how to tell which one.
Water at the air handler or a stain on the ceiling is usually a clogged condensate line, not refrigerant.
Blank screen, wrong reading, or a system that ignores you. Most of these you can fix yourself.
Ice in a Phoenix summer is a symptom of something else. Here’s how to thaw it without wrecking the compressor.
If your air conditioner is blowing warm air or not turning on, we’ll troubleshoot fast. Our AC repair service gets your system back on track without unnecessary upsells. We focus on fixing the problem, not pushing products you don’t need.
Regular tune-ups keep your air conditioner running better and longer. Our maintenance service includes coil cleaning, refrigerant checks, and airflow optimization. It’s a small investment that helps prevent big breakdowns and lowers your energy bills.
No hot water, low water pressure, or a drain that keeps clogging? Valley water is hard on plumbing, and some of what’s below is a ten-minute fix while some of it is water escaping under your slab right now. These guides help you tell the difference fast.
Gas, electric, and tankless heaters each fail differently. Find out which part to check first.
Where the water comes from tells you whether it’s a cheap valve or a failing tank.
One faucet or the whole house? The answer points to mineral scale, a worn valve, or a hidden leak.
A running toilet can waste hundreds of gallons a day. Most fixes take under an hour.
Warm spots on the floor, a jump in your water bill, running water you can’t find.
Clearing the same drain every month means the real problem is further down the line.
Not every problem needs a truck tonight, and not every problem can wait. Here is how we sort it when you call.
Water coming through a ceiling, a burst pipe you cannot shut off, sewage backing up into a tub, no cooling when it is over 110°F with kids, older adults or pets in the house, a water heater leaking from the tank body, or burning smells and loud buzzing from an AC unit. These do damage by the hour. We answer after-hours calls for emergency AC repair and emergency plumbing across the Phoenix Metro.
Weak cooling that still holds a temperature, no hot water in a household that can wait a day, a single slow drain, a running toilet, a dripping faucet, one room that will not cool, or a thermostat that has stopped responding. Same-day slots are usually available, and booking early beats waiting until the afternoon heat makes it worse.
If you smell gas or rotten eggs, leave the house before doing anything else, then call 911 and Southwest Gas from outside. Do not flip switches or use the phone indoors. For a burst pipe, close the main shutoff at the meter. For an AC with ice on the lines, switch the thermostat to OFF and the fan to ON. Stopping the damage comes before diagnosing it.
These come up constantly on service calls and do not have a guide of their own yet. If one matches your house, the service page linked beside it is the right place to start.
Check thermostat batteries, the furnace breaker and the door safety switch on the access panel first. If it still will not fire, the igniter, flame sensor or control board is the usual cause – furnace repair.
A brief cold blast at startup is normal. Continuous cold air means a failed igniter, a tripped high-limit switch from restricted airflow, or a pilot that has gone out – furnace repair.
A heat pump delivers air that feels cooler than a furnace, often in the mid-to-high 90s°F. That is normal. Air at room temperature, or a system stuck in defrost, is not – heat pump repair.
Buzzing points to electrical faults, grinding to failing motor bearings, screeching from the outdoor unit to high internal pressure. Grinding and screeching mean shut it off now – AC repair.
Arizona dust load plus leaky return ducts is the usual combination. Start with the filter, then look at duct sealing – air duct cleaning.
Dust visibly blowing from supply vents, uneven airflow between rooms, musty smells at startup, or a recent remodel that filled the ducts with drywall dust – air duct cleaning.
Symptoms that ease when you leave the house, persistent musty odours, mould on the evaporator coil, allergy flare-ups that follow the AC schedule – air purifier installation.
One hot room is usually a duct problem, not an AC problem. A mini-split is often the cheaper fix for a converted garage or added room – ductless mini-split installation.
Several drains backing up at once, sewage odours indoors or in the yard, gurgling toilets when the washer drains, soggy green patches in dry ground – sewer line repair.
Roots find hairline cracks at pipe joints, then trap everything that flows past. Clearing restores flow; lining or replacing the section is the only permanent fix – trenchless pipe repair.
Repeated pinhole leaks in the same copper system, rusty water, pressure that keeps dropping, galvanized piping in an older central Phoenix home – pipe repair and replacement.
Popping and rumbling means sediment on the bottom of the tank. Left alone it costs efficiency first and the tank second – water heater maintenance.
Turn the system off and call right away if you see ice on the refrigerant lines, smell burning, hear grinding or loud buzzing, or the indoor temperature is climbing above 85°F with children, older adults or pets at home. Weak cooling with no unusual sounds can usually wait for a scheduled visit.
If you see ice or hear unusual noises, yes. Switch the thermostat to OFF or FAN ONLY. Running a system with low refrigerant or a frozen coil can damage the compressor, one of the most expensive parts to replace.
Confirm the thermostat is set to COOL and below room temperature, replace the air filter, check the outdoor unit is running, and look for a tripped breaker or an outdoor disconnect switch that has been turned off. Those four checks resolve a surprising number of calls.
Water you cannot shut off, a sewage backup, water reaching electrical equipment, a water heater leaking from the tank, or a suspected slab leak. If you smell gas, leave the house and call 911 and Southwest Gas from outside before calling a plumber.
Hard water leaves mineral sediment in the bottom of the tank and scale in tankless heat exchangers. Sediment insulates the water from the burner, reduces capacity and wears out the anode rod that protects the tank. Annual flushing or descaling makes a measurable difference.
Typically 12 to 15 years. Near-constant runtime from May through October, dust load and monsoon debris all shorten equipment life compared with milder climates, which is why annual maintenance matters more here than the manufacturer’s schedule suggests.
Phoenix and the surrounding metro, including Scottsdale, Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert, Tempe, Glendale, Peoria, Surprise, Goodyear, Avondale, Buckeye, Paradise Valley, Cave Creek, Anthem, Ahwatukee, Arcadia and Encanto.
Yes. A.P.E.S. HVAC & Plumbing is licensed and insured in Arizona under ROC #305585 (CR37 Plumbing), ROC #311047 (CR63 Appliances) and ROC #315712 (CR39 HVAC).