HVAC Repair in La Crosse, WI
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 La Crosse County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eleven months of work, most of it in the cold
Your furnace runs from October through May here. On nights that average 12°F it cycles on and off again and again to hold the house at temperature. Each start puts wear on the igniter and the flame sensor. When one of those finally gives out, the furnace won't light at all.
Summer is short here, just three months, but your air conditioner still has to answer for 80°F afternoons after sitting idle most of the year. That kind of idle time is when a capacitor seizes up or a coil goes dirty without you noticing. This area has also seen 21 winter storms and 100 damaging wind events over the past ten years, the kind of weather that puts real strain on a system already working most months of the year.
- 8 months
- October through May, your system heats
- 3 months
- June through August, it cools
- 12°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 80°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace and air conditioner would cut about $120 a year off heating and cooling for a typical La Crosse County home.
Estimates for a typical La Crosse County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Wisconsin 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.
Wisconsin requires contractors to register with the state.
Registration puts the business on file with the Department of Safety and Professional Services. It does not mean anyone was tested on the work, and no state license backs the name on the truck. Because counties and cities in Wisconsin can't layer on their own HVAC license, that state record is the only one that exists here, wherever in La Crosse County the job is.
On a heating and cooling repair, the registration itself checks nothing about how the work gets done. It confirms the business is on file, not that the person touching your furnace or your refrigerant lines was tested on either one. Wisconsin leaves that gap open, and nothing at the county or city level in La Crosse County closes it.
Sources: Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau · Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services
- Why is my heat not working?
- Start with the thermostat and the power to the furnace before you assume the worst. Check that the thermostat is set to heat and a few degrees above room temperature, and check the breaker and the furnace switch, which looks like a light switch near the unit. If those are fine, look at the furnace filter. A filter clogged with dust chokes off airflow and can cause the furnace to shut itself down before it overheats. Gas furnaces also have an igniter that wears out over time, and if it fails the furnace will run air but never light. At 12 degrees on a winter night, this is not something to leave for later.
- Why is my system running but not cooling the house?
- The blower running without cool air usually points to one of two things. Check the filter first. A filter packed with dust starves the system of airflow, and when that happens the coil inside can ice over so the air coming out feels warm instead of cold. Also check the outdoor unit. If the fan isn't spinning or the coil is caked in dirt and grass clippings, it can't release the heat it's pulling out of your house. If the filter is clean and the outdoor unit looks fine, the system may be low on refrigerant, and that needs a contractor to check.
- What can I check before calling for HVAC repair?
- A few things take two minutes and save a wasted trip. Check the thermostat is set correctly and has working batteries if it uses them. Check the breaker for the furnace or the outdoor condenser hasn't tripped. Check the filter and replace it if you can't see light through it. For a furnace, check that the switch near the unit, which looks like a wall light switch, hasn't been bumped off. If all of that checks out and the system still isn't heating or cooling, that points to something inside the unit, and a licensed contractor will need to look at it.