Live in the Pearland-Houston corridor long enough and you've sat through Harvey or Ike or Beryl, or one of their cousins. After Beryl in July 2024 we ran restoration calls across South Houston for days straight. Wind damage caused surprisingly few of them. Most came from homeowners who turned the system back on too early, or never cut the power before the flooding started.
Our techs follow this same routine at their own homes.
72 hours out: the prep window
Once a named storm is in the Gulf and tracking toward the upper Texas coast, you have about three days. Use them.
Get a tune-up scheduled now (or at least a quick check)
Go into a storm with a system you trust. After a hurricane, the backlog for non-emergency repair can run for weeks, and parts shortages stretch it further. If you've been putting off a service call, make it now. When the forecast firms up, we open extra storm-prep slots in the 72 hours before landfall.
Photograph the equipment
Walk around the outdoor condenser and photograph each side. Get the model and serial plate and the disconnect box too. If something happens, your insurance company will want them.
Check your insurance
Standard homeowners policies cover wind damage to your AC. Flood damage takes a separate flood policy. A lot of Pearland sits outside the high-risk flood zones, where flood coverage is optional, and many homeowners go without it. Know which one you are before you make the next decisions.
24-48 hours out: physical prep
Outdoor unit (condenser)
- Clear everything around the unit that could turn into a missile, from patio furniture to plant pots. After Beryl we pulled chunks of fence panel out of condenser coils.
- Trim back anything that could fall on it, like branches or palm fronds.
- Skip the tarp. Condensers are built to sit outside in heavy weather, and the unit will be fine in the rain. A plastic tarp traps moisture and holds debris against the coil, and 80 mph wind can rip it loose and throw it into your siding. If you want debris protection, use a breathable cover or plywood weighted with sandbags.
- Hurricane straps for surge zones. If you live near enough to the coast for storm surge to be a real risk (Kemah, Seabrook, Bacliff), have the condenser strapped to the slab. We sell and install hurricane brackets. Call ahead in storm season.
Indoor air handler / furnace
- Know where the disconnect is. Indoor systems have a service switch, usually an unlabeled wall switch next to the unit, plus a breaker. If the house floods, you want the power off before water reaches the equipment.
- Move stored boxes and holiday decorations off the air handler closet floor so nothing blocks the access panel during a repair.
Ductwork in the attic
- If your roof has leaked before, keep an eye on the attic ducts. A roof leak dripping onto an exposed duct will dump water straight into a bedroom. Tarp the roof before the storm if you can do it safely.
The hour before: shut it down
Once winds are forecast above 60 mph or you're in the inundation zone:
- Turn the thermostat to OFF. Heat and cool both, fully off.
- Flip the outdoor disconnect to OFF. That's the pull-out box on the wall next to the condenser. Pull it and set it inside the disconnect housing.
- Trip the AC breaker at the panel. Belt and suspenders.
Why bother? Utility-side switching during a storm sends power surges down the line, and in our experience that is what kills the most equipment. A condenser with the power off can't be surged. One that's still powered when a transformer pops a few houses down can have its compressor and capacitor cooked. The whole routine takes about 30 minutes, and the system it protects costs $8,900 or more to replace.
"After Beryl, our phones didn't stop for two weeks, and most of the calls were from homeowners who left the AC running through the storm. Surge damage took out compressors and capacitors. The customers who pulled the disconnect were mostly fine."
If your area floods
Storm surge or rising water around the condenser changes everything. Once water gets within a foot of the bottom of the unit, it can seep through the cabinet seams into the fan motor and compressor. When the water goes down:
- Leave it off, even if it looks fine.
- Call us. A flooded condenser has to be opened up and dried, and the components meggered (insulation tested), before anyone reconnects it. Sometimes it can be saved. Sometimes the compressor windings are gone, and we'll tell you which.
- Document everything for insurance with photos before, during and after cleanup.
After the storm: bringing the system back online
When power comes back to your neighborhood, check a few things before you flip the breaker:
- Walk around the outside unit. Look for visible damage and debris in the coil fins. Check for anything wedged near the fan blade and for high-water lines on the cabinet.
- Anything look wrong? Leave it off and call us.
- If it looks clean, restore power in order: breaker, then disconnect, then thermostat. Set the thermostat 5° above the room temperature so it doesn't call for cooling right away.
- Watch and listen for the first 5 minutes. The compressor should start smoothly and the fan should spin freely, with no odd sounds or burning smell.
Smell burning, hear grinding or see sparks? Kill the power immediately and call us.
Generators and HVAC
People ask whether a portable generator can run the AC. Almost always, no. A typical 3-ton AC needs 4500-7500 watts to start (locked-rotor amps × 240V) and 3000-4000 to keep running. Most portable generators top out at 5500-7500W and can't carry the startup surge. You'd need at least a 10-12 kW generator, installed with a transfer switch. Extension cords won't do it.
If you want AC through a multi-day outage, a whole-home standby generator with a proper transfer switch is the way to get it. We don't sell them, but we coordinate with electricians who do.
Don't wait for a name in the Gulf. One call covers pre-storm checks and hurricane brackets, and post-storm assessments too. 281-992-7866 or book a check.