HVAC Repair in St. Petersburg, FL
Homes here need heat from January through January and cooling from March through December. If your system quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Pinellas County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Your AC runs almost all year here
Cooling runs March through December in Pinellas County, and summer afternoons average 90°F. That system works close to ten months straight with barely a break, and the compressor and coil take that load every one of those days. When one of them starts to fail, most people notice the air isn't as cold as it should be, or the system runs longer to get the house down to temperature.
Winter is short here, just January, and nights average 54°F, so the heat side gets little use and can sit for months before it has to work again. Storms are the other strain. Pinellas County saw 60 damaging wind events over the last ten years, and most homes here heat with electricity, so a power outage takes the whole system down. More than a third of Florida households lost power for at least 24 hours in 2024, and when the power comes back, not every system starts up on its own.
- 1 months
- January through January, your system heats
- 10 months
- March through December, it cools
- 54°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 90°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Florida requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The license comes from the Construction Industry Licensing Board, and the board tested the contractor before granting it. It covers the contractor as a whole, not the specific repair being done at your house.
For a repair job, that license is what stands behind the person working on your system. That covers the contractor's standing, not the details of the repair itself. A bad gas connection is the dangerous part of a heating repair, and the license is what the state has on record for the person making it.
Sources: Florida Legislature · Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation
- Why is my heat not working?
- Most likely something is stopping the ignition sequence or the power to it. If you have a gas furnace, the igniter or flame sensor is the usual culprit, and a dirty flame sensor alone can make the furnace shut off after a few seconds. If you have a heat pump, check the thermostat setting first since a heat pump can blow cool-feeling air even when it is working right. Either way, check your breaker panel too, since a tripped breaker will stop things cold with no other sign.
- Why is my system running but not cooling the house?
- The most common cause is a dirty air filter choking off airflow, so check that first. A clogged filter forces the coil to run colder than it should, and ice can build up on it, which cuts cooling even further while the system keeps running. Low refrigerant from a leak causes the same thing and will not fix itself. If the filter is clean and the vents are blowing warm or weak air, a contractor will need to check the refrigerant charge and the coil itself.
- What can I check before calling for HVAC repair?
- Start with the thermostat. Make sure it is set to heat or cool as needed and that the batteries are not dead. Next check the air filter and replace it if it is visibly dirty, since a clogged filter causes both heating and cooling problems. Then check your breaker panel for a tripped breaker, and if you have a gas furnace, make sure the gas valve is open and any switch near the unit is on. If everything checks out and the system still is not working, a licensed contractor can diagnose what is left.