Here’s why your A/C probably didn’t hold up during NJ’s first heat wave

After what felt like a furnace blast, portions of New Jersey finally saw relief after the state's first heat wave of 2025 came to a conclusion for some on June 26. Needless to say, it's a welcome relief.

Unfortunately, with summer just getting started, it's almost certain New Jersey will see another heat wave in the not-so-distant future. And although some folks may welcome that, others would rather it not be so steamy.

Thinking back to our first heat wave of 2025, ask yourself this. Did my air conditioner hold up to the test?

Now, yes, experts have their tips on where you should keep your thermostat during oppressively extreme heat (Kylie Moore has more on what the experts say here). In reality, it may not even matter what you have that thermostat set to.

Here's an example

Say you kept your thermostat set at 75 degrees during New Jersey's first heat wave, but your home never got cooler than, say, 81 degrees when the outside temperature was 101 degrees.

No matter how low you set your thermostat to, the inside air remained in the 80s until the outside air finally started to cool later at night. Your first instinct might be to think, is my air conditioner broken?

But before you call a service professional and spend hundreds of dollars for a house visit, here's something you should know. Your air conditioning unit is probably operating the way it was designed to operate.

More specifically, a central air conditioning unit. I know I used to think something was wrong with ours every time extreme heat hit our area and our central air unit refused to cool the house any lower than 80, 81, or 82, despite having it set at 76 degrees.

Expert knowledge

Now, I am very fortunate that my dad was an expert in the HVAC field throughout his entire working career. And one of the things I learned from him made me realize that my central air unit was operating exactly the way it was supposed to.

According to him, a central unit won't really make your home beyond 20 degrees cooler. And the reason? To help protect the central air unit from damage. In other words, the unit has a set point it stops cooling, despite what the thermostat is set to.

Yes, if the difference between the inside and outside temperature is too great, it can damage the way the central unit operates, and thus leave you with a costly bill to have it repaired.

Since I'm not an HVAC expert, I don't want to get into saying what parts will get damaged since I'm personally not sure myself, but I trust what my dad says, who is an expert. He's been in HVAC his entire working career up until his retirement in 2024, so he knows what he's talking about.

Not broken

The bottom line is this. As parts of New Jersey climbed well into the triple digits during our first heat wave, many homeowners probably experienced this, where their home temperature only got as cool as the 80s despite a thermostat setting in the 70s.

ALSO READ: Why your NJ garden may not produce after extreme heat waves

If that happened to you, then your central air unit was most likely working as designed, and you probably don't need to call a professional for repairs. As long as the air remains dry inside and stays cooler than the outside, your unit should be good to go for the next heat wave.

The above post reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 Sunday morning host & content contributor Mike Brant. Any opinions expressed are his own.