BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Air conditioning companies nationwide are experiencing shortages of some replacement parts.

The owners of Hometown Heating and Cooling in Kenmore are already preparing to possibly be impacted by the shortage. Owner Scott Thur said the shortage began at the end of last season due to the pandemic.

He said facilities were only operating with partial staff and it’s taken awhile to catch back up. He said they couldn’t get any equipment at the end of last season and had to use different suppliers to meet the need.

He said most of the common equipment parts come from the same manufacturing company, leaving businesses waiting on one factory to ramp up production to get the parts.

Thur said they have enough of the important equipment parts for now, but air conditioning is selling more locally every summer.

“With it being Buffalo we never really had a problem with air conditioning but as the environment’s changed the air conditioning seems to be just as much needed now as heat in the wintertime,” Thur said.

He said for now they’re preparing and hoping for the best.

“We are preparing by reaching out to different vendors, different suppliers and keeping all of our avenues open but we’re hoping we don’t have any issues at all that’s our goal.”