HVAC Repair in Wilkes-Barre, 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 Luzerne County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Ten months of runtime wears on a system fast
Your furnace in Wilkes-Barre works October through May, eight months of the year. On nights that average 19°F, it cycles on and off for hours at a stretch, and every start puts wear on the igniter and the parts that get the burner lit. That kind of wear shows up as a furnace that clicks and tries but won't catch, or one that runs but never quite warms the house.
Then summer asks the rest of the system to work, July and August afternoons averaging 79°F. Ten months a year one system or the other is running, with little time to rest between. Luzerne County has seen 151 damaging wind events and 13 winter storms over the past ten years, and storms like that knock out power. Most furnaces and air conditioners come back on by themselves once power returns. If yours doesn't, that's worth a look.
- 8 months
- October through May, your system heats
- 2 months
- July through August, it cools
- 19°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 79°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 Luzerne County home.
Estimates for a typical Luzerne 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.
Contractors register with the Bureau of Consumer Protection.
Look up a contractor's registration on the Bureau of Consumer Protection's website.Sources: Pennsylvania General Assembly · Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General
- Why is my heat not working?
- Start by checking the thermostat and the breaker before anything else. If it's a furnace, look for a light on the control board, a steady red light usually means it locked itself out after trying to start a few times. Gas furnaces need power, gas, and a spark or hot surface to ignite, and if any one of those is missing the burners won't light. With winter lows here dropping to 19°F, a furnace that stops working overnight can let a house get cold fast, so this isn't one to leave for a warm day.
- Why is my system running but not cooling the house?
- If air is moving but it's not cold, the problem is usually with what's cooling the air, not with the blower. Check the filter first, a clogged one restricts airflow across the coil and can cause it to freeze over. If the outdoor unit isn't running at all while the indoor blower is, that points to the compressor or its capacitor rather than anything inside the house. A system that's low on refrigerant will also blow warm air and needs a contractor to find the leak, since refrigerant doesn't get used up on its own.
- What can I check before calling for HVAC repair?
- Check the thermostat batteries, the breaker, and the filter first. A dead thermostat display or a tripped breaker looks like a bigger problem than it is, and a filter clogged with dust can cause both heating and cooling issues. If you have a gas furnace, check whether the switch on the furnace itself or nearby is in the on position, it's easy to bump. Beyond that, most causes are inside the equipment, and a licensed contractor will need to look at it directly.