HVAC Repair in Stevens Point, WI
Homes here need heat from September through May and cooling from July through August. If your system quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Portage County will get in touch.
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Nine months of heat, ten below at night
Your furnace in Stevens Point works from September through May. On the coldest nights, when the temperature outside drops to 10°F, it runs almost constantly to keep up, and the burner cycles on and off many times a day. Every one of those cycles puts wear on the igniter and the components that get the burner lit. When one of them finally gives out, you will notice fast, because there is no warm stretch coming to bail you out.
Summer is short here, just July and August, with afternoons around 79°F. Your air conditioner does not get the long, steady runtime that would reveal a weak capacitor or a low refrigerant charge early. It tends to show up when a heat wave hits and the system is asked to run hard for days in a row. Add in the wind and winter storms this area sees, and the power interruptions that come with them, and a system already worn thin has less room to recover before the next extreme swings in.
- 9 months
- September through May, your system heats
- 2 months
- July through August, it cools
- 10°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 79°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace and air conditioner would cut about $130 a year off heating and cooling for a typical Portage County home.
Estimates for a typical Portage 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 tested the contractor's knowledge of furnaces or air conditioners, and there is no license number tied to a trade exam behind it. Wisconsin also does not let counties or cities layer on their own HVAC license, so this registration is the only state-level record that exists for whoever comes to work on your system.
For a repair job like this, the registration itself does not test anyone's ability to handle a gas connection or a line carrying refrigerant, the parts of the work where a mistake is dangerous. Wisconsin's rule stops at the business being on file. It is not a stand-in for the trade exam a licensing state would require.
Sources: Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau · Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services
- Why is my heat not working?
- Most often it is the igniter or the flame sensor, especially if the furnace tries to start, then shuts back off. A dirty flame sensor will do this because it cannot tell the burner is lit, so the control board shuts things down to be safe. Check the thermostat first. Make sure it is set to heat and the temperature is set above room temp. If the furnace is not responding at all, check that the switch on the unit and the breaker are both on before assuming the worst, since at 10°F on a winter night a tripped breaker can leave a house cold fast.
- Why is my system running but not cooling the house?
- If the fan runs but the air is not cold, the most common cause is a dirty filter choking off airflow, or a frozen evaporator coil, which often follows from that same restricted airflow. A frozen coil needs to thaw before the system can cool again, and running it longer in that state does not help. It could also be low refrigerant, which only a licensed contractor can check and recharge. Start with the filter since it is the one thing you can rule out yourself.
- What can I check before calling for HVAC repair?
- Check the thermostat settings first, since a battery running low or a setting bumped by accident causes more no-heat and no-cool calls than people expect. Check the breaker box and any switch on the unit itself, since a tripped breaker looks identical to a dead system from the thermostat. Look at the filter and replace it if it is visibly gray or clogged, since restricted airflow causes both heating and cooling problems. If the unit runs but nothing changes at the vents, that points to something inside the system, and a licensed contractor will need to look at it directly.