Heat wave is no picnic for automobile mechanics
Car engines and garages run unbearably hot
Ottawa’s heat wave is hitting local car repair garages with a double whammy: tougher conditions for mechanics and overflowing appointments for AC quick fixes.
“Everything is hot,” says Vic Muir, service adviser for Roy Barber Services. “The inside of the car is like an oven.”
Under Tuesday’s 34-degree heat and unrelenting sun, Muir’s technicians toiled away — outside.
“In small garages, a lot of jobs are done outside directly in the sun,” he says, explaining that quick repairs are often conducted in the driveway.
Mechanics assigned a car inside aren’t much better off: Most garages the Citizen spoke with do not have air conditioning, except in the offices. Rob Brouwer, the owner of Precision Automotive, says with the garage doors open most of the day, air conditioning would just be a waste of energy.
Instead, he invites employees to cool off in the offices, makes sure they take plenty of water breaks, and has outfitted the garages with an arsenal of fans.
With these pauses, people’s drained energy, and the condition of the scorching cars that come rolling in from the road, efficiency takes a hit during a heat wave, says Brouwer.
“For a tune-up, you have to wait an extended period of time before you can work on a car because (with) most cars, the engine gets too hot to get close to,” he says.
Most car-repair work involves ducking under the hood or the body of the vehicle, both of which can be unbearable in this week’s temperatures.
Checking the oil, a routine maintenance procedure, becomes challenging as mechanics must be careful the overheated liquid doesn’t burn their arms. That means layering on more protective gear.
But as the record-setting temperatures cause radiator, cooling system and air-conditioning breakdowns in higher-than-usual numbers, car garages have no choice but to jam pack their appointment schedules.
“Everyone makes fun of my crappy car and my comeback was ‘My AC works.’ Well, not anymore,” says Young Street Garage office manager Lianne Hillebrand.
She had to book an appointment at her own business yesterday. Young Street Garage is one of the few air-conditioned businesses. Even so, Hillebrand was handing out Popsicles to employees.
Environment Canada issued a humidex advisory for the region Tuesday, as the temperature crept near the 40-degree mark when accounting for humidity. The extreme heat is expected to continue for a few days, breaking by late Friday.
Amid the sweat-inducing work Brouwer could find one source of optimism: “It’s still better than 40 below.”