Working AC units serve as lifeline for scorched Las Vegas Valley residents

Overnight Thursday into Friday, close to 2,200 power customers were without electricity in Henderson, according to NV Energy.

While power was restored at around noon on Friday, the instance leads to a more broad question — what happens if your power goes out and thereby leaves your air conditioning unit useless?

It's more of a nightmare than a question for Las Vegas Valley residents, especially with Southern Nevada stuck in a ferocious heat dome weather pattern that could produce a record high temperature in the coming days.

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"It's very common for things to break down when it's really hot," said Gavin Shaw, general manager of Carl's Air Conditioning and Plumbing in Henderson. "With these heat, it's going to affect a lot of people."

Shaw said most air conditioning businesses are very busy these days as high temperatures have been topping the 110 degree mark daily. When it's hotter, AC units have to work harder and when that happens, they can fail, especially older ones.

According to NV Energy, it wasn't known as of late Friday afternoon what caused the Henderson outage, but prolonged heat waves can stress power grids. Still, NV Energy officials haven't sounded the alarm about that happening.

During an interview with Channel 13 in June , NV Energy spokeswoman Meghin Delaney said there were no signs at that time of a weakened power grid in the Silver State.

"We feel really good about where our grid's at and being able to meet the demand," Delaney said. "When we do get into July and August, when we have week-long stretches of really hot weather, our teams do start monitoring things a little more closely."

Those worried about power interruptions can invest in a backup generator, and Shaw said it's always good to have AC units inspected before the hot summer months are upon us. If your unit is older, he also says it might be time to look into an upgrade.

New AC units, though expensive, run much more efficiently. That means less costly energy bills for the resident, and less stress on the overall power grid here in Southern Nevada.

Recently, Shaw said a Carl's employee had the power go out at his home late at night. In a matter of minutes, the temperature at the home shot up to 95 degrees.

"We scrambled to get a tech out there right away," Shaw said. "When people call this time of year, they want us to come out as quickly as we can, which is what we try to do."