Supply issues causing heating concerns

The Scarinci’s heating system went kaput three weeks ago. They need a replacement part, but because of global supply issues, the fix is weeks away.

PHILADELPHIA - President Joe Biden signed the $1 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into law on Monday after the House approved the measure in a show of bipartisanship. The Biden Administration hopes the bill will ease the country's supply chain issues.

Shannon Scarinci is running four space heaters inside her Northeast Philadelphia home.

"Every neighbor rallied and donated their space heaters," she says.

The Scarinci’s heating system went kaput three weeks ago. They need a replacement part, but because of global supply issues, the fix is weeks away.

"We were worried because 6-8 weeks puts us at Christmas time and it’s pretty cold in late December and into the new year," says Scarinci.

For now, they’re playing musical space heaters and making it work with fleece blankets, cozy socks, plus, the gas fireplace. But, this is a problem that Debbie Lutz of Gen 3 Electric and HVAC says is only going to get worse with delays and inflation. Pricing is already up 20-30%.

"Homeowners just really have to brace themselves," says Lutz, who tells us that right now, she has eight to 10 customers waiting on back-ordered parts.

"I’ve never seen anything like this with the distributors."

Lutz says that people need to be flexible, but more importantly, they need to be proactive.

"When people want to get another season out of their heating system or their hopeful this repair will hold, I call it ‘bonus time’," says Lutz. "We don’t know how long ‘bonus time‘ will last. It could be a season, a couple of years, or a couple of weeks. This is not the season to push bonus time."

Lutz advises people to stay up-to-date on maintenance to preserve their existing heating and cooling systems. Labor and supply shortages are everywhere and experts say there is no end in sight.