Hurricane Hit Your AC? A Stuart Post-Storm HVAC Checklist

If the outdoor unit sat in floodwater — even briefly — do not energize it. Water in the electrical compartment can short windings and controls, and flipping the disconnect on a wet unit converts a repairable machine into a total loss, sometimes dangerously. Leave the breaker off, leave the disconnect off, and let an inspection decide what's safe to test.

The same caution applies to indoor equipment: an air handler in a flooded garage or closet stays off until it's checked. And if you smell burning, see sparking, or the panel feels hot, that's a 911 situation — HVAC service doesn't substitute for emergency responders.

Evidence wins claims, and cleanup erases evidence. Photograph the equipment from all sides before touching anything: the water line on the cabinet, debris impact, displaced pads, and the surrounding yard. Note the dates — when the storm passed, when power returned, when any symptom appeared. Keep damaged parts.

That record is what separates a smooth claim from a fight. Adjusters distinguish wind damage from flood damage from pre-existing wear, and your photos either support that distinction or leave it to guesswork. Ten minutes of photography before the cleanup crew arrives is the highest-value ten minutes of the whole aftermath.

With power off, walk the outdoor unit. Is it level and on its pad, or displaced? Any impact damage — dents, punctured coil, crushed line set? Debris packed into the coil? Salt spray and storm grit caked across the cabinet? Look at the disconnect and conduit for damage, and check whether the unit's flood situation (water line, mud) suggests the electrical compartment was reached.

Indoors, check the air handler area for water, the ceiling below attic equipment for stains, and the thermostat for response when power's stable. What you find — or find missing — tells the technician what to prioritize, and it goes in the documentation file either way.

A post-storm inspection with power-on testing answers the big question — safe to run or not — and separates storm damage from pre-existing wear in writing. That separation is the technical core of most claims: wind-thrown and surge-killed equipment reads differently than corroded-and-tired equipment, and a written inspection that says so plainly is what adjusters process without friction.

We coordinate directly with adjusters' technical questions and provide itemized estimates formatted for claims — never promises about coverage, which belong to your policy and adjuster, but always the facts they need, documented. If replacement is the outcome, the rebuild gets the storm-resilience package: elevation, strapping, surge protection, coastal-rated coils.