HVAC Installation in Waukegan, IL
A new system here will heat from October through May and cool from June through August every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Lake County will get in touch.
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A new system here has eight months of heat and three of cooling to get through
Winter nights in Waukegan average 19°F from December through February. A new furnace has to bring a cold house up to temperature on nights like that, and it does it from October through May, eight months out of the year. Summer only asks three months of the year, June through August, with afternoons averaging 81°F.
That leaves one month of the year when a system here is not heating or cooling something. Most homes in the area heat with gas, so the furnace is doing the heavy lifting most of the year, and the air conditioner picks up the shorter, hotter stretch. Both sides of a new system need to be sized for what this place actually asks of them, not just for the square footage of the house.
- 8 months
- October through May, your system heats
- 3 months
- June through August, it cools
- 19°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 81°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
In Illinois, HVAC licensing for homes is left to the cities and towns.
Illinois has no state HVAC license, and Lake County does not run its own program either, so whatever rule applies comes from the city or township where the house sits. Some places license contractors, some just register them, and some have no rule at all. There is no single record covering every contractor working in Lake County.
For a heating and cooling installation, the protection that does exist here comes from the permit process. In most cities and towns, putting in a new furnace, air conditioner or heat pump needs a permit from the local building office, and the finished work gets inspected before it is signed off. That inspection is what catches a bad gas connection or a refrigerant line that was not done right, not a license number.
Source: Illinois General Assembly
- When should I replace my HVAC system?
- Replace it when repairs keep happening on the same unit, or when a contractor tells you the repair bill is getting close to what a new system would run. Age matters too. Homes here need heat from October through May, and a furnace that quits on a 19°F night is not something you want to gamble on. If your system is old enough that you are wondering, that is usually a sign to start planning the replacement before it fails rather than after.
- Should I replace my furnace and air conditioner at the same time?
- If both are old, yes, replacing them together usually makes sense. A furnace and air conditioner installed at the same time are matched to work with each other, while pairing a new unit with an old one can mean neither runs the way it should. Doing both also means one installation instead of two. But if one unit is still fairly new and working fine, there is no reason to replace it early just to match the other.
- What happens during an HVAC installation?
- A contractor removes the old equipment, then sets the new furnace, air conditioner, or both in place and connects them to your ducts, gas line, electrical, and, for AC, the refrigerant lines and outdoor unit. Once everything is connected, they test the system, check the airflow, and confirm it is heating or cooling correctly before they leave. Depending on your home, they may also adjust or seal ductwork so the new equipment performs the way it is rated to. A contractor walking your specific house can tell you what your installation will involve.