Spring and summer tend to be humid and hot which can be unbearable.
However, these two seasons are also the best time for thunderstorms.
So, it’s better to think twice before switching on your cooling unit when the weather becomes extreme to avoid irreparable damage to the HVAC. Cases of lightning harming a house are rare, but it does happen and can shut down the HVAC system permanently. A lightning strike can deliver up to 5 billion joules of energy through your home’s electrical system frying all devices including the aircon. Lightning also melts the plug to your AC system and harms the control panel thus corrupting the entire cooling unit. The control panel is full of sensitive electrical circuitry, so it’s better to switch it off for safety reasons during a lightning storm. Rain alone won’t affect your central cooling and heating unit. The only time you need to be concerned is if the rain was heavy enough to flood the area around the outdoor HVAC. In such instances, it would be essential to power turn off the aircon. A hot and humid home while each person were in a storm can be unbearable. Plus switching off the air conditioning can be a hassle. However, a short moment of discomfort is much easier to handle than having to replace the air conditioner after the thunderstorm. Immediately the lightning has stopped, you can switch on your cooling unit. When there’s a thunderstorm, the air temperature drops considerably. If you can, think about opening the windows plus turning on any ceiling fans to assist in pulling in cool air in and around your house until the storm subsides. If you know your AC unit was affected by a severe storm, you should contact an air conditioning technician to correctly inspect the HVAC system and determine if any destruction took place.