Storm damage around Midland comes with a measured number. The Warrenton-Fauquier Airport sits inside the County’s Midland service district, and its weather station logs the gusts: 60 mph in the June 2012 derecho, 74 mph on August 13, 2021, when trees several feet across came up by the roots near Midland Road and Airport Road, and 67 mph on July 25, 2022, a few weeks after a downburst peeled roofing and siding off two of its hangars.
Wind like that throws limbs into condenser grilles and drops trees on the lines, as one did onto the wires on Rogues Road on August 28, 2021. Before you turn the cooling back on, walk out to the unit. A branch in the fan, a cabinet knocked crooked or a copper line bent at the wall means the breaker stays off. Call us after the storm and we’ll check the unit, its wiring and the drain at the indoor coil in one visit.
Across ZIP 22728, 622 of the 1,066 owner homes heat with electricity, which out here usually means a heat pump, so the machine that quits in August is the one the house leans on in January. Another 354 burn propane, with the air conditioner outside paired to a propane furnace whose blower moves the cold air. Natural gas heats 12.
NOAA’s 1991 to 2020 normals for its Warrenton 3 SE station, about six miles north-northwest, put the July high near 85, with about 21 days a year at 90 or hotter. That station topped out at 99 on July 23, 2011, while the Weather Service estimated heat indices over 115 across southern Fauquier. A run capacitor that’s been fading all spring usually quits on an afternoon like that; replacing one is $240 to $370.