Davis Shores, where the tide chart is part of the maintenance schedule
Nobody in Davis Shores asks whether the street will flood again. They ask how high, and whether the air conditioner will be above it.
Twelve hours on a king-tide day, as they tend to go
5:40 a.m. The tide is still an hour from peak and water is already in the gutters on the streets closest to Salt Run and the Matanzas. The forecast called it; the city’s flood alert went out the night before.
7:00 a.m. Peak. Water across the lowest intersections, ankle-deep in some driveways. Outdoor units on grade-level pads are sitting in it. Units on stands are a foot or more above it, running normally.
10:30 a.m. The street is draining. A homeowner on a grade pad switches the system off, which is the right move, and calls. Another leaves it running, which is the common one.
2:00 p.m. We are in the driveway with the control compartment open. Salt water left a tide line on the contactor. The capacitor terminals are already dull. The compressor ran through it and will probably keep running for a while, which is exactly the problem: the failure comes in August, on the hottest afternoon of the year, when every truck in the county is busy.
6:00 p.m. The evening tide is smaller. Tomorrow’s morning tide will not be.
That cycle plays out twelve to sixteen times a year now, and it is the reason Davis Shores is the one neighborhood where we talk about mounting height before we talk about tonnage.
A neighborhood built at sea level, on purpose
Davis Shores was dredged out of the marsh on the north end of Anastasia Island in 1925 by D.P. Davis, the same developer behind the famous islands in Tampa Bay. The Florida land boom collapsed before it filled in, and most of the houses that stand there now are from the 1950s through the 1970s: concrete-block ranches on slabs, a few feet above the water on a good day, with canals and the Salt Run on two sides and the bayfront seawall on the third. It is squarely inside the FEMA one-percent flood zone, and it took the worst of the water in Matthew in 2016 and Irma in 2017. The surge from Ian, Nicole and Milton topped the seawall again.
The housing is simple to cool. Where it sits is not.
What we are called for, and what we do about it
Flood inspections. After any event, we open the outdoor unit and the air handler, test the electrical components, check the compressor terminals and the blower, and give you a written verdict with photographs: clean and keep, repair, or replace. Saltwater exposure and freshwater exposure get different answers.
Elevation. New outdoor units in Davis Shores go on engineered aluminum stands or wall brackets set above the known water line, strapped for wind, with the disconnect and whip mounted higher still. Existing units that survived can often be lifted onto a stand without replacing them. Garage air handlers go on platforms.
Replacement after the second flood. Many owners repair after the first event and replace after the second. When that day comes, the quote includes the stand, a coated outdoor coil for the salt air coming off the inlet, and a drain and float-switch arrangement that works when the slab is wet.
The ordinary stuff. Davis Shores is also a neighborhood of 1960s ranches with 2008 air conditioners, and those get the usual run of capacitors, fan motors, refrigerant leaks and clogged drains. Those visits start with a look at the mounting height too. It costs nothing to ask.
Getting a truck over the bridge
From Cook’s headquarters at 37 Fairmont Ln in Palm Coast, Davis Shores is about 40 minutes by US 1 and the Bridge of Lions, or by SR 312 when the drawbridge schedule is against us. Round-the-clock dispatch, no after-hours premium, and on flood days we know which streets to approach from the Anastasia Boulevard side.
What Davis Shores homeowners ask after the water goes down
The water came up around the unit but didn't reach the top of the base. Is it damaged?
The compressor sits an inch or two off the base, and the wiring and controls are higher still, so an inch of water is usually a rinse-and-inspect. Several inches of salt water is different; the contactor, capacitor and compressor terminals corrode over the following weeks. We open it, test it and photograph what we find.
How tall a stand do we actually need here?
Above the highest water you’ve seen at the house, with a margin. For most of Davis Shores that means a stand of a couple of feet or more, and on the lowest streets a wall bracket at the height of the hurricane marks from 2016 and 2017. Taller is cheap compared to a second condenser.
My air handler is in the garage. Is that the wrong place now?
On the floor, yes. On a platform above the known water line, it’s fine, and the garage is easier to service than an attic. Raising an existing air handler is a half-day job that usually means new return ductwork and a drain change.
Will insurance cover a flooded system?
That depends on your flood policy, not on us. What we provide is the written diagnosis, photographs and a replacement quote in the form adjusters expect. Most Davis Shores owners who have been through it once keep our report in the same folder as the policy.
Davis Shores, above the water line
Stands, brackets, flood inspections and the replacements that follow. Dispatched any hour.