This is what happens when you wait for the first heat wave

In yesterday's 90-degree heat, Joseph Ferguson, co-owner of Ferguson Heating and Air Conditioning in Allegheny Township, knelt beside the air conditioning system, recharging it with refrigerant and repairing a leak on the service valves.

It was just one of the calls flooding into air-conditioning contractors' offices throughout the Alle-Kiski Valley during the past few days of sweltering heat.

Luckily for those with faltering air conditioners or without air-conditioning systems, the heat is expected to subside for the next few days at least a little, dropping to the mid-80s, said Pat Herald, a National Weather Service meteorologist in the Pittsburgh office.

Herald said the temperature should be in the 80s today and Wednesday, but Thursday's temperature could reach the upper 80s.

"We're going to get a front (today) and cool things off," he said. "Temperatures are still going to be above normal."

When temperatures get this high, Ferguson said, everything changes.

On Saturday, his business had 50 service calls. On Sunday, it received 30. Normally, those numbers are about 10 or 12 each day.

"The phone starts at 6 o'clock in the morning, and it just keeps on going," he said.

Over the weekend, Ferguson's business had four servicemen making house calls. Normally, Ferguson said, customers wait until Monday to have the systems fixed, but this weekend's heat was too much to bear.

"The temperature was too excessive for people to recover, to wait until Monday," he said.

Even after 6 p.m. Sunday, there were at least a dozen calls, he said, and those calls continued until 10 p.m.

Despite all the calls, Ferguson said, customers aren'tt waiting long. All regular customers have service done on the day they call, and servicemen are trying to reach new customers on the same day they call or the following day.

Some of his staff have worked more than 16 hours a day to handle the calls, he said.

The high temperatures put a lot of strain on air conditioners, he said. Compressors and fan motors start to fail, and there's routine breakdowns to take care of.

With beads of sweat on his brow after working on Scanga's air conditioner, Ferguson said about the work: "You try to do your best."

Randy Roth, owner of George Roth Heating and Plumbing in Indiana Township, said the business has five servicemen and they've been swamped.

Still, the business is trying to make repairs the same day people call, making sure to get everybody with no air conditioning on the same day.

From Friday through Monday, 260 people called. Most needed their air conditioning units serviced, Roth said.

"We wish this much work would have spread over a few weeks," he said.

Michelle Brown, office manager at John's Heating and Air Conditioning in Freeport, said the number of calls coming in is crazy.

"We just have a ton of people who have no cooling or they need new units put in," she said, adding that workers are trying to get to callers as quickly as possible.