The Latest Part Shortage Could Affect Your Home This Winter

Materials for everything from car parts to paint are scarce right now. Or pandemic shipping problems are causing shortages. Now another of those shortages could have a big impact on your house this winter.

According to Dakota News Now, companies that install and repair heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment are running into parts shortages that are making their jobs much more difficult.

A HVAC contractor in Sioux Falls met with a customer who will have to wait until next spring to get his new furnace installed because of the back log of inventory.

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Johnstone Supply of Sioux Falls, which is a supplier of HVAC parts, is doing things a little differently to help meet the demand.

“Some things we're working on right now is adding additional space, stocking up on a product that we know were going to need three, four, or six months from now, to make sure that we can continue to support the community,” said Alex HofKamp, President of Johnstone Supply.

There are a number of root causes as to why the shortages are happening. According to Rescue Air, an HVAC company in Texas, shortages of raw materials like copper, steel, aluminum, and plastics as well as semiconductors are a big part of it. Those shortages have been caused by the Suez Canal blockage, the massive Texas ice and snow storm last winter trashed a Trane warehouse, as well as a fire at a semiconductor factory in Japan.

If you own your own home it is a great idea to get your furnace system checked before winter, and the sooner the better will minimize the wait when temperatures get colder.