HVAC Repair in Pittsburgh, PA
Homes here need heat from October through May and cooling from June through August. If your system quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Allegheny County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eleven months of work, most years
Your furnace carries the load from October through May, and on the nights that drop to 24°F it runs long and often to keep up. That much cycling wears on the igniter and the flame sensor, and when one of them finally quits, you will notice heat that won't start or a burner that lights then cuts out. Come summer your AC gets a shorter stretch, June through August, but afternoons near 82°F push the compressor hard on the days it does run.
Most furnaces here run on gas, so a thermostat that calls for heat and gets nothing is worth checking against the pilot or igniter before anything else. Allegheny County also sees real storms, wind events most years and a winter storm every so often, and Pennsylvania homes lost power for a day or more often enough in 2024 that it's worth knowing your system needs that power back before it will run again.
- 8 months
- October through May, your system heats
- 3 months
- June through August, it cools
- 24°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 82°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace and air conditioner would cut about $160 a year off heating and cooling for a typical Allegheny County home.
Estimates for a typical Allegheny 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.
That registration puts the business on file with the state and nothing more. Nobody tested this contractor on how to wire a furnace or handle refrigerant lines. There's no exam behind the number, just a record that the business exists and registered like the law requires. Pennsylvania also keeps cities and towns from layering their own HVAC license on top, so this registration is the only state-level record you'll find, in Allegheny County or anywhere else in the state.
So the registration isn't what's standing behind the actual repair on your heating and cooling system. There's no trade license here to hold that work to a tested standard. What you have on file with the state is the business itself, registered as Pennsylvania law requires, and nothing about how the repair is done.
Source: Pennsylvania General Assembly
- Why is my heat not working?
- Start with the thermostat. Make sure it is set to heat and the temperature is set above room temperature, since a setting bumped a few degrees can look like a dead system. Check your breaker panel next, since a tripped breaker will shut a furnace down with no warning. If the furnace runs on gas, look for a pilot light or igniter that has gone out. Most gas furnaces here through winter, so a heat failure at 24 degrees outside is worth a same-day call if the thermostat and breaker check out fine.
- Why is my system running but not cooling the house?
- Check your air filter first. A clogged filter blocks airflow across the indoor coil, and a coil that cannot move air cannot cool the house even though the system runs. Next check the outdoor unit, the condenser, and make sure nothing is blocking it, no leaves, no grass clippings, no fence built up close against it. If the filter is clean and the outdoor unit is clear and the house still is not cooling, the system likely needs a contractor to check the refrigerant charge, something you cannot see or fix from outside the unit.
- What can I check before calling for HVAC repair?
- Check the thermostat settings first, the mode and the temperature, since this catches more no-heat and no-cool calls than anything else. Check your breaker panel for anything tripped. Check that your air filter is not clogged, since a blocked filter can starve both a furnace and an air conditioner of airflow. If the system uses gas, check that the gas valve is open and the pilot or igniter is lit. If all of that checks out and the system still is not working, a contractor will need to look at it directly.