When to call us as an emergency vs. a normal same-day call
Not every broken AC in Palm Beach County is a 3 a.m. emergency. We dispatch emergencies and same-day calls on different tracks, and being honest about which one you have helps everyone — including the next neighbor on the line. Here's the line we draw.
Call as an emergency if any of these are true right now:
- No cooling during an active heat wave. Indoor temperatures climbing past 82–85°F with no end in sight, especially in the afternoon.
- Elderly residents, young children, or pets in the home. Heat exhaustion risk is real and accelerates fast in a closed Florida house.
- Active water leak from the air handler. If water is dripping onto drywall, flooring, or near electrical, this is an emergency — turn the system off first.
- Electrical smell, burning smell, or smoke. Power down at the breaker immediately and call. If there's visible smoke or fire, call 911 first.
- System keeps tripping the breaker. Don't keep flipping it back. Repeated trips can damage the compressor and the wiring inside the panel.
It's a same-day call (not an emergency) if:
- The AC is running but isn't cooling as well as it used to.
- The thermostat is acting glitchy but the air handler still responds.
- You hear a new noise from the outdoor unit but the house is still being held to setpoint.
- Airflow from the vents has dropped, but the system isn't dripping, smoking, or tripping breakers.
Those still get fast service — usually a confirmed window the same day. See our same-day repair page for how that track works.
What to expect on response time
Most emergency calls in Palm Beach County get a licensed, insured technician on-site within a few hours of the first phone call — including nights, weekends, and holidays. There's no skeleton crew after dark. The dispatch line is staffed by a real human at all hours, and we hold open emergency slots specifically for the calls that can't wait until morning.
If you're in a densely covered area — West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Wellington, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach — overnight emergency response often lands in the 60–120 minute window. The further west or north you are, the longer the drive, but we'll give you an honest ETA before you hang up, not a "sometime between now and Tuesday" window.
The differentiator: same $200 dispatch fee at 3 a.m. as 3 p.m.
This is the part most homeowners don't believe at first. The dispatch fee for an emergency call at 11 p.m. on a Saturday is the same flat $200 as a 2 p.m. Tuesday call. No after-hours premium, no weekend surcharge, no holiday markup. That $200 covers the technician's visit and complete diagnosis, and it's credited toward the repair when you approve the work — exactly like a daytime call.
Why does this matter? Most local shops add 50–100% for nights, weekends, and holidays. A $200 dispatch becomes $300 after 6 p.m., $400 on a Sunday, more on a holiday. We don't operate that way because the most stressful AC failures — the ones with kids overheating, water dripping into drywall, breakers tripping every ten minutes — never happen at a convenient time. Charging double for those calls is taking advantage of the worst moment.
What counts as an emergency, in plain language
The single test we use: is there a person, pet, or home-system safety risk right now? If yes, it's an emergency. If the answer is "no, it's just uncomfortable and we'd really like it fixed today," that's a same-day call — and it still gets fast, prioritized dispatch on a flat fee.
Real emergencies our dispatchers triage daily include:
- No cooling in a heat wave with the indoor temp already past 82°F.
- Vulnerable residents in the home — anyone over 75, infants and toddlers, anyone with heart or respiratory conditions, indoor pets that can't regulate body temperature.
- Water leak from the air handler actively dripping or pooling — risk to drywall, flooring, ceilings, and (worst case) the electrical inside the air handler itself.
- Electrical or burning smell from any part of the system — disconnect at the breaker first.
- System tripping the breaker when you try to start it. Don't reset more than once.
What to do while you're waiting for the tech
Three things, in order:
- Turn the AC off at the thermostat. If the breaker is tripping, leave it off at the panel too. Running a system that's actively failing — especially with a refrigerant or electrical problem — almost always makes the repair more expensive.
- Move everyone to the coolest interior room. That's usually a north-facing or interior room with no direct sunlight. Close the blinds in sun-facing rooms across the rest of the house. Put fans on if you have them — moving air feels 4–5°F cooler than still air.
- Hydrate aggressively. Water, not sugary drinks. Cool washcloths on the back of the neck, wrists, and behind the knees pull heat out fast. Watch elderly residents, infants, and pets closely for signs of heat exhaustion — cool skin that feels clammy, dizziness, confusion, or rapid breathing.
If you smell burning or see smoke, get everyone out of the house and call 911 before you call us. Once the home is safe, then we dispatch.
"We don't charge more at 3 a.m. than we do at 3 p.m. The AC didn't pick the time it failed — and the family in that house didn't pick it either. Charging double for the worst night of someone's summer isn't a business model we're interested in."
How to reach us for an emergency dispatch
Call or text 561-340-9057. The phone is answered by a real person 24 hours a day, every day. Tell us where you are, what the system is doing, and whether there are vulnerable residents in the home. We'll confirm an ETA before you hang up and the technician will text you when they're 15 minutes out. See full pricing if you want to know what the repair side is likely to run.