HVAC Repair in Columbus, OH
Homes here need heat from October through May and cooling from June through September. If your system quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Franklin County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Franklin County runs its systems eight months a year
Your furnace covers October through May here, and on winter nights averaging 24°F it cycles on and off most of the night to keep up. Each start puts wear on the igniter and the flame sensor, and one of those parts is usually behind a no-heat call.
The air conditioner takes over June through September, working against summer afternoons that average 84°F. That kind of heat keeps the compressor and outdoor coil under load for months at a stretch. Franklin County has also seen 174 damaging wind events and 6 winter storms over the past ten years, and equipment coming back on after a power outage is under its own kind of stress.
- 8 months
- October through May, your system heats
- 4 months
- June through September, it cools
- 24°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 84°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace and air conditioner would cut about $170 a year off heating and cooling for a typical Franklin County home.
Estimates for a typical Franklin County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Ohio 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.
In Ohio, HVAC licensing for homes is left to the counties.
Franklin County is the one that decides who can do this work. Ohio leaves that decision to the counties instead of setting a state license, so whatever Franklin County requires, or doesn't, is what stands between you and the person coming out to your house. Ohio does define a home contractor at the state level as someone carrying at least $250,000 in liability insurance. That's a definition of the term, not a license, and it doesn't mean anyone tested this contractor's work.
For a repair on a heating and cooling system, that leaves Franklin County's own rules as the thing that decides what gets checked. A bad gas connection is the dangerous part of a job like this, and whether anyone inspects that work depends on what the county requires, not a rule Ohio sets for the whole state.
Source: Ohio Legislative Service Commission
- Why is my heat not working?
- Start with the thermostat and the power to the furnace before you assume the worst. Check that it is set to heat and a few degrees above room temperature, and check the breaker and the furnace switch, which looks like a regular light switch near the unit. If those are fine, a gas furnace that won't light often has a bad igniter or a flame sensor that needs cleaning. Winter nights here average 24°F, so a furnace that's down for even a day is worth getting to fast.
- Why is my system running but not cooling the house?
- Check the filter first. A filter clogged with dust blocks airflow across the coil, and the coil can ice over, which makes the system run without cooling anything. Check the outdoor unit too. If the fan isn't spinning or the coil looks iced up, turn the system off and let it thaw before doing anything else. If the filter is clean and the outdoor unit looks normal, the system is likely low on refrigerant or has an electrical problem, and that calls for a contractor with gauges to find out why.
- What can I check before calling for HVAC repair?
- Check the thermostat settings, the batteries in it if it has any, and the breaker for the system. Check the filter, since a dirty filter causes problems in both winter and summer. For a furnace, check that the switch near the unit, which looks like a light switch, hasn't been bumped off. For an outdoor AC unit, make sure nothing is blocking it and the fan isn't jammed with leaves or debris. Telling the contractor what you checked and what you saw helps them figure out the problem faster.