HVAC Repair in Fort Lauderdale, FL
If your system quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Broward County will get in touch.
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Your AC runs every month of the year here
There is no season off in Fort Lauderdale. Summer afternoons average 91°F, and the system runs to keep up with that heat for months at a stretch. Winter nights only drop to 58°F on average, so it does not get much of a break even then. Most homes here run on electric heat if they have any heat at all, built around cooling first.
That much runtime wears on the compressor and the fan motor before anything else gives out. When one of those starts to fail, you notice the house not quite reaching the temperature you set, or air coming out warmer than it should. Storms add to the wear, and when the power goes out, the system depends on that power coming back to run again. In 2024, 38% of Florida households were without power for at least 24 hours.
- 58°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 91°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
Florida requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The Construction Industry Licensing Board tests contractors before they can hold this license, and the state keeps a record of who holds one. That license belongs to the contractor, not to any single job. It covers this repair and the next one, whatever the address in Florida.
Because Florida licenses at the state level, that license is what stands behind the person working on your heating and cooling system. If a gas connection is part of the repair, that license is still what accounts for the person doing the work. A bad connection is the dangerous part of any gas repair, and in Florida the state license is the record that the contractor making it was tested before being allowed to.
Sources: Florida Legislature · Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation
- Why is my heat not working?
- In Fort Lauderdale this is almost always the heat strip in the air handler or the heat pump itself, since so few homes have a furnace. Check that the thermostat is set to heat and not just fan, and that the breaker for the air handler hasn't tripped. If the outdoor unit isn't running at all, the system may be locked out on a fault, and it needs a contractor to read the code and fix what tripped it. Cold nights here are short, but when one hits you don't want to find out the heat strip failed months ago.
- Why is my system running but not cooling the house?
- If air is coming out of the vents but it's not cold, the problem is usually low refrigerant, a frozen evaporator coil, or a compressor that isn't cycling on. A dirty filter can also choke airflow enough that the coil ices up and stops cooling. Check the filter first, since that's the one thing you can fix yourself. If it's clean and the air still isn't cold, the system needs a contractor to check refrigerant charge and the compressor, because running it low on refrigerant for long can damage the compressor.
- What can I check before calling for HVAC repair?
- Check the thermostat batteries and settings first, since a dead battery or a thermostat set to the wrong mode looks exactly like a broken system. Check the breaker box for a tripped breaker, especially after a storm, since Florida sees enough damaging wind events that power blips are common. Pull the air filter and look at it in the light. If it's gray or caked with dust, replace it, since a clogged filter can cause both weak airflow and a frozen coil. If none of that explains it, a licensed contractor will need to diagnose it, and Florida requires that license for a reason.