HVAC Repair in Follansbee, WV
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 Brooke County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Follansbee runs its system almost all year
Your furnace works October through May here, then the AC takes over for June through August. Eleven months of the year, one system or the other is running, and that kind of use adds up.
Winter nights average 24°F, cold enough that the burner cycles on and off many times a day to keep up, and each start wears on the igniter. Summer afternoons reach 82°F, and the compressor runs long stretches to keep the house down. Wind is the other problem here. Brooke County has logged 38 damaging wind events in the past ten years, and an outage knocks out a furnace's blower and a heat pump's compressor alike. When the power drops on a cold night, the heat stops with it.
- 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 $200 a year off heating and cooling for a typical Brooke County home.
Estimates for a typical Brooke County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, West Virginia 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.
West Virginia requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The license comes from the state's Commissioner of Labor, and it belongs to the contractor, not to any single job. It does not get reissued or checked for each repair a contractor takes on.
For a repair on a heating and cooling system, that license is what stands behind the person doing the work in your house. If gas is part of the job, the connection is the part that has to be right, and in West Virginia it's the same Commissioner of Labor license that covers the person doing that work.
Source: West Virginia Legislature
- Why is my heat not working?
- Start with the thermostat. Make sure it is set to heat and the temperature is set above the room temperature, since a setting bumped by accident is the simplest explanation. Check your breaker panel next, because a tripped breaker will cut power to the furnace without any other sign. If the thermostat and breaker are fine, listen for the furnace trying to start. A furnace that clicks but will not light or one that stays silent points to something inside the unit, and at 24 degrees on a winter night here that is worth calling a contractor for the same day.
- Why is my system running but not cooling the house?
- Check the air filter first. A filter clogged with dust blocks airflow across the coil, and when air cannot move past it the house stops cooling even though the system runs. Next check that all your supply vents are open and not blocked by furniture or rugs. If the filter is clean and the vents are open, the system may be low on refrigerant or the outdoor unit may not be running, and both need a contractor to look at them since neither is something you can check safely from inside the house.
- What can I check before calling for HVAC repair?
- Check the thermostat settings and its batteries if it uses them. Check your breaker panel for a tripped breaker, since heating and cooling systems trip breakers more often than most other appliances in the house. Look at the air filter and replace it if it is gray or clogged. Outside, make sure the outdoor unit is not blocked by leaves, snow, or anything sitting against it. If you find a problem with any of these and fixing it does not solve things, tell the contractor what you already checked. It saves time on the visit and helps them get to the actual cause faster.