HVAC Repair in Westminster, MD
Homes here need heat from October through April and cooling from June through August. If your system quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Carroll County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Ten months of work a year in Carroll County
Your furnace carries the cold from October through April, and on nights that drop to 25°F it cycles on and off for hours to keep up. Every start puts load on the igniter and the heat exchanger. When one gives out, you notice it as a house that won't warm past a certain point, or a system that clicks and never lights.
Then summer turns it around. Afternoons near 84°F push the air conditioner hard through June through August, and the compressor that rested all winter is now running through the heat of the day. Just over half the homes here heat with electricity, so the same power lines carry both jobs. Carroll County has logged 21 winter storms and 173 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and when the power goes out, whichever season it is, the system stops until it comes back on.
- 7 months
- October through April, your system heats
- 3 months
- June through August, it cools
- 25°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 84°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Maryland requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
Maryland's Board of Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Contractors tests and licenses HVAC contractors before they can legally take on this work. That license belongs to the contractor, not to any single job, so the same license that qualifies them for your repair qualifies them for every job they take on in the state.
For a repair on a heating and cooling system, that license is what stands behind the work. Whoever comes out to look at your system is accountable to the same board and the same state record no matter what the repair turns out to be.
Sources: Maryland General Assembly · Maryland Department of Labor
- Why is my heat not working?
- Start with the thermostat. If the screen is blank or the setting will not hold, the batteries may be dead. If the thermostat looks fine, check the breaker for the furnace and the switch that looks like a light switch near the unit itself, since that gets bumped off more often than people expect. A furnace that runs but blows cold air usually points to the igniter or the flame sensor failing to light the burners. With winter nights here averaging 25°F, a furnace that will not fire needs a contractor out quickly rather than waiting to see if it starts working again.
- 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 coil can ice over when air cannot move past it, which stops it from pulling heat out of your home. Next check the outdoor unit and clear away any leaves, grass clippings or mulch pressed against it, since that fan needs open air to work. If the filter is clean and the outdoor unit is clear, the system may be low on refrigerant, and that is a leak a contractor has to find and fix, not something to keep topping off.
- What can I check before calling for HVAC repair?
- Check the thermostat setting and its batteries, then check the breaker panel for a tripped switch. Look at the air filter and replace it if it is gray or clogged, since a dirty filter causes both heating and cooling problems. For a furnace, check the switch near the unit that looks like a light switch, it gets turned off by accident more than people think. If everything there looks normal and the system still is not heating or cooling right, a contractor will need to look at it directly rather than guess over the phone.