High demand for air conditioners and electric fans as heatwave persists

High demand for AC and fans The hot weather is driving up demand for air conditioning and fans in Ottawa. CTV's Jackie Perez reports.

Gabriel Fayad has the garage doors to his auto shop fully open and he's keeping an electrical fan close by as he works. It's his way to deal with the heat.

"It's helping a little bit, but I'm dripping in sweat," said Fayad, the owner of Gabriel's Auto on Preston Street. "It's getting worse and worse."

And he's not alone.

"I'm surviving the heat, barely," said Dino D'Angelo. He is on the hunt for some reprieve at Preston Hardware Store to keep his construction workers cool on site.

"Two and a half days have been hectic," he said. "I've got, people on sites that just don't want to stay. They want to leave with the heat, the humidity, and I'm out buying fans for them now."

From electric fans to air conditioners, demand is high. Just ask HVAC specialist Carmine Mariano.

"Business is just crazy right now," said Mariano, the co-owner of Furnace Factory Direct. "We got tons of calls, all the service technicians are out, and all the installers are out. The last two, three days, we probably did about 12 to 15 units."

Mariano offers a few tips to combat the hot air at home, like keeping the furnace filter clean and running your furnace fan 24 hours a day.

"If you run your furnace fan 24 hours a day, you get better air quality amongst the three floors because you're constantly moving the air, or whether the air conditioners on or off," he said.

Back at the hardware store, there's success for D'Angelo buying a Milwaukee Brushless fan to keep his workers comfortable.

"Got to take care of the crew," said D'Angelo. "Buying them fans, buying them water, trying to get ice. There's not too much ice out there right now either."