HVAC Repair in Salisbury, 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 Wicomico County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eleven months of work, most years
Your system in Wicomico County only gets a short break. Heat runs October through April, and on the nights that drop to 29°F, the burner or heat pump cycles on and off for hours to hold the house steady. Summer brings four more months of work, and the air conditioner works hardest on the afternoons that hit 86°F.
62.2% of homes here heat with electricity, so a heat pump or electric furnace is likely doing that work, and it depends on power to run at all. The area has seen 12 winter storms and 68 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and statewide, 11% of Maryland households lost power for a full day or more in 2024. When the power drops on a cold night, the heat stops with it, and a system already worn from months of steady cycling is the one most likely to fail when it comes back on.
- 7 months
- October through April, your system heats
- 4 months
- June through September, it cools
- 29°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 86°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Maryland requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
Maryland tests HVAC contractors before granting this license. The Board of Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Contractors keeps the record of who passed and who is licensed to do this work. The license belongs to the contractor, not to any single job, so it stands behind every repair they take on, not just this one.
For a repair on your heating and cooling system, that license is what backs the person doing the work in Wicomico County. It means the state tested this contractor before they were allowed to touch a gas line or a refrigerant line in your home, and it means there is a record of them if something goes wrong.
Sources: Maryland General Assembly · Maryland Department of Labor
- Why is my heat not working?
- The most common reason is the thermostat, a tripped breaker, or the igniter not lighting the burners. If you have a gas furnace, check whether the pilot or igniter is working and whether the gas valve is on. If it's electric heat, check the breaker panel first, since a tripped breaker will shut the whole system down. Winter nights here average 29°F, so a furnace that won't start needs attention quickly rather than waiting it out.
- Why is my system running but not cooling the house?
- If air is moving but it isn't cold, the most likely causes are a dirty filter blocking airflow, a frozen evaporator coil, or low refrigerant from a leak. A clogged filter starves the coil of airflow, and the coil can ice over as a result, which stops it from cooling the air at all. Check the filter first, since that's the one thing you can rule out yourself. If the filter is clean and the coil still isn't cooling, a contractor will need to check refrigerant levels and look for a leak.
- What can I check before calling for HVAC repair?
- Start with the thermostat. Make sure it's set to heat or cool as needed and that the batteries aren't dead. Next, check the breaker panel for a tripped breaker, since both furnaces and air conditioners run on electricity even when the heat itself is gas. Then check the air filter. A filter clogged with dust restricts airflow enough to cause both heating and cooling problems. If those all check out and the system still isn't working, the issue is inside the equipment and a licensed contractor will need to diagnose it.