Q – It's 95 outside, and our air conditioner has just quit. Just stopped. I called our hvac company and they said it would be 2 days before they could get to us.

Any ideas in the meantime?

Sweaty in Dunwoody 

A – If your air conditioner has quit blowing air, and it is hot, hot, hot outside, and your air conditioning company tells you it will be 2 days before they can come out and repair it, and you are getting mad because, well, just because – try this…

Check your thermostat. That’s right, your thermostat.

Unless you still have one of those round thermostats that was off-limits to the hands of kids everywhere when they were growing up because you “might upset the delicate balance of cool air and dad being cheap”, your thermostat could hold the key.

New thermostats (and by ‘new’ I am referring to thermostats that have digital readouts on them) are powered by batteries. When the batteries die, as batteries are wont to do, the thermostat shuts down everything that runs through it.

Like your air conditioner.

The cure: carefully take the cover off the thermostat, pop the old batteries out (usually 3 or 4 AA’s), insert new ones, and reattach the cover and ta-daaa – your air conditioner just might magically start working again.

Good work. However, if it is not the batteries in your thermostat you will still need a visit from your service tech. And, by the way, change your furnace filter while you are poking around your unit.

FYI – this could be the same reason your furnace may shut off on the coldest night of the winter. The cure is the same.

BONUS TIP – while you are checking batteries, don't forget the batteries in your smoke detectors, your C-O detectors, anything that is hooked up through your smart phone i.e. door locks, garage door signal receptors, lights, and the thingy that tells you if your plumbing is leaking.

And as long as we are talking batteries change the ones in your remote garage door openers you carry in your cars, the ones in the key-chain thing that unlocks your car doors, your battery powered portable screw drivers, the 5 remote controls for your tv/dvr/dvd/vhs/stereo, and the ugly clock on the bookcase in your den that was a gift from somebody – you can’t remember who – but you won’t get rid of it because, because, well because you just don’t want to face the wrath of the wife.

Where were we? Oh yes – good luck with your a/c unit. I hope it was just the batteries.