It's been years since the home air conditioner was considered a luxury. and this is when workmen like Chuck Arnett of Steers Heating and Cooling really earn their pay.

"An awful lot of calls...a lot of capacitors going bad on these units...and they're just working overtime," Arnett says.

For most heating and air conditioning service companies, this is pretty much a typical summer. When the temperature goes up, so do the service calls.

"This is going to be a bear to get to," Arnett claims as he tries to reach a resident's air conditioning unit.

And on a miserable day like this, with this unit nestled in the middle of shrubbery...he might as well be referring to a bear in the woods. but Arnett finally finds the problem...a capacitor which needs to be replaced.

"It's showing weak," he notes, as he looks at the faltering part. "It's a pretty good indication our compressor is not starting."

Arnett says problems like these are best solved in the early spring...rather than in the middle of summer.

"The best thing to do is to try to have your unit serviced before the weather does get hot," he advises. "That way, we can troubleshoot some things that give people problems. Making sure people's filters are clean is very important."

And the Energy Star program says that, if your air conditioning unit is more than 12 years old, you can save as much as 30% on your electric bills by replacing it.