Heating and Furnace Repair in Austin, TX

A heating system that only gets tested in a crisis

An Austin system cools for seven months and heats for a few weeks, so the heating side goes largely untested from one winter to the next. The first real cold front of the year is when problems show up, all at once, across the whole city. The two storms most Austin homeowners remember, the February 2021 freeze and the February 2023 ice storm, showed how fast a house gets cold once the heat quits.

Heat pumps

Common across the newer parts of the metro. Watch for a system stuck on emergency or auxiliary heat, ice that never clears from the outdoor unit, or cool air in heating mode.

Gas furnaces

Common in older homes. The usual failures are ignitors, flame sensors, pressure switches and inducer motors, most of them inexpensive parts.

Electric furnaces and heat strips

Simple and reliable, but expensive to run. A failed sequencer or element can take out part or all of the heat.

Thermostats

A thermostat that is miswired for a heat pump, or set to the wrong mode, causes more no-heat calls than people expect.

Gas furnace with the service panel open — Most furnace failures are small parts that wear out between seasons: ignitors, flame sensors and switches.

Safety first with gas heat

Smell gas? Leave the house without touching switches, and call 911 or the gas company from outside.
Carbon monoxide alarm? Get everyone outside into fresh air and call 911.
Have working CO detectors near the bedrooms in any home with gas appliances. Replace them by the date on the back.
Never heat with an oven, grill or generator indoors.

What you can check first

Make sure the thermostat is set to heat and above room temperature, the filter is clean, the breaker is on, and the furnace door is fully closed; many furnaces will not run with the panel loose. On a heat pump, a little frost on the outdoor coil that clears every so often is normal defrosting. A solid block of ice is not.

Prepare before the first freeze

Test the heat in October, before you need it. Run it for fifteen minutes on a cool evening. A brief dusty smell the first time is normal. A system that will not light, blows cool air or trips a breaker is much easier to get fixed in October than during a hard freeze, when every HVAC company in the region is booked.

Adjusting a thermostat to heat on a cold morning — Test the heat in the fall, before the first hard freeze fills every schedule in town.

A fall tune-up covers the burners, flame sensor, heat exchanger, venting and safety controls. See HVAC maintenance. If your heat is out right now, see emergency repair.

What happens when you call

Call any time and you will be put through to a licensed local HVAC company, which diagnoses the system on site and gives you a price before work starts.

Common questions

Why is my heat pump blowing cool air?

In heating mode a heat pump's air feels cooler than a furnace's even when it is working. If the air is actually cold, the system may be stuck in defrost, low on refrigerant, or running only on backup heat. Have it checked.

Is it normal for my heat pump to have frost on it?

A thin layer that melts off every so often is normal defrosting. A thick block of ice that never clears is not.

How much does furnace repair cost?

Most furnace failures are inexpensive parts such as ignitors and flame sensors. The company doing the work sets the price after diagnosing the system.

What should I do if my heat goes out during a freeze?

Keep everyone in one room, open cabinet doors under sinks on outside walls, let a faucet drip, and call. Never heat a home with a gas oven or grill.

No heat? Don’t wait for the freeze