HVAC Repair in Dundalk, MD
Homes here need heat from October through April and cooling from June through September. If your system quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Baltimore County will get in touch.
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Eleven months of work most years
Your furnace and your air conditioner in Dundalk split the year between them. Heat runs October through April, seven months. Cooling picks up June through September, four more. That leaves the system idle only one month out of the year.
Winter nights averaging 26°F keep the burner cycling for hours at a stretch to hold the house at temperature. Summer afternoons near 85°F put the same kind of steady load on the compressor. This area has also logged 33 winter storms and 314 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and storms like that knock out power. Most furnaces and air conditioners come back on their own once power returns, but if yours does not restart, or the burner won't light after a cold night, that long run of use is usually part of why.
- 7 months
- October through April, your system heats
- 4 months
- June through September, it cools
- 26°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 85°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 Baltimore County home.
Estimates for a typical Baltimore County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Maryland 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.
Maryland requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The license comes from the Maryland Board of Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Contractors. It belongs to the contractor, not to any single job. That means the state has tested the contractor and keeps a record of them on file, but nobody pulls a new license for your specific repair.
For a repair to your heating and cooling system, that license is what stands behind the contractor doing the work. If the repair touches a gas connection, that connection is the part worth getting right, since a poor seal is what turns a repair into a hazard, and the same license covers the contractor making it.
Sources: Maryland General Assembly · Maryland Department of Labor
- 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 more common than people expect. If the thermostat looks right, check the breaker for the furnace and, if it runs on gas, make sure the gas valve is open. A furnace that will not fire at all is often the igniter or the flame sensor, and those need a contractor to test and replace. On winter nights near 26 degrees here, a furnace that is not heating needs attention fast, so do not wait on this one.
- 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 the system will run without bringing the house down to temperature. Next check that all the supply vents in the house are open and nothing is blocking them. If the filter is clean and the vents are open, the problem is likely inside the system, in the refrigerant charge or the coil itself, and that calls for a contractor with gauges to diagnose it. On an 85 degree afternoon a system that runs constantly without cooling is working hard for nothing, and that is worth getting looked at soon.
- 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 unit. Check the air filter and replace it if it is dirty, since a clogged filter causes problems in both heating and cooling systems. Look at the outdoor unit if you have one and clear away any leaves, grass clippings or debris blocking it. If everything there looks fine and the system still is not working right, the issue is inside the equipment, and a contractor will need to diagnose it and price the repair for your system.