HVAC Repair in Durham, NC
Homes here need heat from October through April and cooling from May through September. If your system quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Durham County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Durham runs its system all year
There is no season off here. Heat runs October through April, seven months, against winter nights that average 31°F. Then cooling takes over May through September, five months, against afternoons that hit 88°F. Twelve months where something in the system is working.
Most homes here heat with electricity, so on those cold nights it is a heat pump or an electric furnace cycling on and off to keep up. In summer the compressor and fan run through long stretches of heat with little rest between cycles. Durham County has seen 7 winter storms and 104 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and in 2024 a quarter of North Carolina households lost power for at least 24 hours. A system that will not restart after the power comes back, or one that has been cycling hard for months straight, is how a lot of these calls start.
- 7 months
- October through April, your system heats
- 5 months
- May through September, it cools
- 31°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 88°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
North Carolina requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The State Board of Examiners of Plumbing, Heating and Fire Sprinkler Contractors issues this license and keeps the record of who holds one. It covers the contractor, not the individual job, so the same license applies whether the work is a small repair or a full system replacement.
For a repair to your heating and cooling system, that license is what stands behind the person doing the work. If part of the job involves a gas connection, that is the part where a mistake can put someone in danger, and it falls under the same state license that covers the rest of the repair.
Sources: North Carolina General Assembly · North Carolina State Board of Examiners of Plumbing, Heating and Fire Sprinkler Contractors
- Why is my heat not working?
- Start with the thermostat. Check that it is set to heat, not cool, and that the temperature you want is above the room's current reading. If that looks right, check the breaker for the furnace or air handler, since a tripped breaker will shut the whole system down with no warning. Gas furnaces also have a flame sensor and an igniter that fail over time, and either one will stop the burners from lighting even though the blower still runs. If you smell gas at any point, leave the house and call the gas company before anyone touches the system.
- 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 when that happens the coil can ice over and stop cooling the air even though the blower keeps moving it. Check the thermostat setting too, and make sure nothing is blocking supply vents in the rooms that feel warm. If the outdoor unit is running but the air coming out of the vents is not cold, the system may be low on refrigerant, and that is a leak a contractor needs to find and repair, not just top off.
- What can I check before calling for HVAC repair?
- Check the thermostat batteries and the setting itself, since a dead battery or a setting bumped to the wrong mode looks exactly like a bigger problem. Check the breaker panel for anything tripped. Look at the air filter and replace it if it is gray or clogged, since that alone causes a lot of the weak airflow and icing complaints. If the outdoor unit has power but the fan is not turning, or you hear it humming without starting, turn it off at the breaker and leave it for a contractor rather than trying to force it, since a stuck fan motor or failed capacitor can draw current it was never built to handle.