HVAC Repair in Erie, PA
Homes here need heat from October through May and cooling from July through August. If your system quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Erie County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Ten months of work a year on your furnace and AC
Your furnace carries the load from October through May, and on nights that average 20°F it cycles on and off for hours to hold the house steady. Each cycle means another ignition, and most homes here heat with gas, so that burner is doing the work all winter. A cracked heat exchanger or a failed igniter shows up as a furnace that won't stay lit or won't light at all.
July and August bring afternoons near 78°F, and the AC has to answer for it after sitting idle most of the year. A capacitor or contactor that sat unused since fall is often the one that fails when you finally need it. Erie County has seen 29 winter storms and 128 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and storms like that knock out power along with them. Most systems come back on their own once power returns, but a furnace that sat cold for a day can still have trouble catching again.
- 8 months
- October through May, your system heats
- 2 months
- July through August, it cools
- 20°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 78°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace and air conditioner would cut about $190 a year off heating and cooling for a typical Erie County home.
Estimates for a typical Erie County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Pennsylvania fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Repair makes sense when one part has failed.
Replacement makes sense when the furnace's heat exchanger is cracked, the air conditioner's compressor has failed, or repairs keep coming.
Pennsylvania requires contractors to register with the state.
Registration puts the business on file with the state and nothing more. Nobody tested this contractor's HVAC knowledge to get that number, and the state keeps no record of trade skill, only a business name and address. Pennsylvania also blocks cities and towns from layering on their own HVAC license, so that registration is the only state-level record anywhere in Pennsylvania, whether the job is in Erie or out in the county.
For a repair like this, the registration on file is not what stands behind the work. This job involves a heating and cooling system, and where gas lines or connections are part of the repair, that is the part where a bad joint becomes dangerous. Pennsylvania's registration rule does not name a state inspection for that work. Whatever oversight applies to a repair like this in Erie County comes from somewhere other than the state registration itself.
Source: Pennsylvania General Assembly
- Why is my heat not working?
- Start with the thermostat. Check that it is set to heat and the temperature is above room temperature, and change the batteries if it uses them. If the thermostat looks right, check the breaker for the furnace and the switch that looks like a light switch near the unit, since that shuts the furnace off for service and gets left off by accident. Most furnaces here run on gas, so if the burners will not light, check that the gas valve is open. With winter nights around 20°F, a furnace that will not stay lit needs a contractor to look at it before the house gets cold enough to matter.
- Why is my system running but not cooling the house?
- Check the air filter first. A clogged filter blocks airflow across the coil, and the coil can ice over so the air coming out feels weak or barely cool. Check that the outdoor unit is running and the fan is spinning. If the filter is clean and the outdoor unit is running but the air still is not cold, the system likely needs a contractor, since low refrigerant or a failing compressor are not something to diagnose from the thermostat.
- What can I check before calling for HVAC repair?
- Check the thermostat settings and batteries first, since a wrong setting or dead batteries look exactly like a bigger problem. Check the breaker panel for a tripped breaker and check for a service switch near the furnace or air handler that may have been switched off. Look at the air filter and replace it if it is dirty, since restricted airflow causes both weak heat and weak cooling. If the outdoor unit or furnace still will not run after that, tell the contractor what you checked. It saves time on the visit.