Families beat the heat by heading to coast

MARIN COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) -- When temperatures in the Bay Area reach the high 90s or over 100 degrees, the best to be is either at the office or home with the air conditioning, or out at a pool or beach enjoying the water.

On those hot days in the North Bay, Matthew Tindall from Moore Heating and Air Conditioning expects to work long hours maintaining or repairing air conditioning systems. He told ABC7 News, "Yesterday, the phones started ringing, and they haven't stopped. So we'll be working a lot over the next couple of days."

We followed Tindall on one call where the homeowners had their AC inspected only to find out the older unit was drawing more energy than it should.

"On a day like today, it's not 105 degrees yet, so when that sun starts cooking, you see the energy going higher and higher and higher," Tindall explained.

This results in higher power bills. PG&E reminded customers today to sign up for its SmartRate Plan to save on their electric bills.

"I'm not a hot weather person, so I try to stay indoors and go out later in the afternoon or early evening, because I exercise every day so that's a time that I get out, other than that, I get a headache if it's too hot so I've learned to stay indoors," said the homeowner.

That's what many parents did Tuesday with their children. The heat kept many playgrounds empty.

Jake Lawlor drove the family from Richmond to San Rafael to get some relief. He said, "The kids are definitely crankier and we drove all the way from across the bay to come here because this is the only swimming pool open at this time."

San Francisco resident Myla Jung of San Francisco did the same. She said, "We decided to come find some water so we live near the beach, the sand, I didn't want to deal with the sand so we came to the pool instead."

North Bay residents can expect a few more days like this one.