HVAC Repair in Chicago, IL
Homes here need heat from October through May and cooling from June through August. If your system quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Cook County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Cook County asks a lot of your system, most of the year
Your furnace is the one doing the work here. Heat runs October through May, eight months straight, and on nights that average 20°F it cycles on and off for hours to keep up. Every start puts load on the igniter and the heat exchanger, and after enough winters one of them gives out. Gas furnaces heat 8 in 10 homes in Illinois, so when the burner won't light, the house goes cold fast.
Summer is shorter but not gentle, with afternoons averaging 82°F for three months. The condenser coil outside works to dump heat into air that's already hot, and a system low on refrigerant or caked with dirt on the coil struggles to keep the house down where you want it. Add in the storms, 20 winter storms and 548 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and the power interruptions that come with them, and both sides of your system get tested most of the year, not just a few weeks of it.
- 8 months
- October through May, your system heats
- 3 months
- June through August, it cools
- 20°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 82°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace and air conditioner would cut about $150 a year off heating and cooling for a typical Cook County home.
Estimates for a typical Cook County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Illinois 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.
In Illinois, HVAC licensing for homes is left to the cities and towns.
In Cook County, whether a contractor needs a local license depends on the municipality. Chicago licenses HVAC contractors and keeps its own records of who holds one. Some suburbs run their own licensing or registration through the local building department, and some have no requirement at all. There is no statewide list to check, because Illinois does not keep one.
For a repair job, the protection that follows is not a state license but whatever the municipality where the house sits requires. If the work touches the gas connection, that is the part worth the most care, since a bad joint or fitting is what makes a gas repair dangerous. Whether anyone checks that connection depends on the town, since Illinois leaves the whole question of who is allowed to do this work, and who checks it, to the city or town where the house sits.
Source: Illinois General Assembly
- Why is my heat not working?
- Start with the thermostat. Check that it's set to heat and the temperature is set above room temperature, and check the batteries if it has a screen that looks dim or blank. If the thermostat looks fine, check your breaker panel, since a tripped breaker will shut a furnace down with no warning. Gas furnaces also have a flame sensor that dirties over time and stops the furnace from lighting. At 20°F on a winter night here, a furnace that won't start needs attention fast, so if the breaker and thermostat check out, it's time to call a contractor.
- 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 system keeps running. Check that the outdoor unit isn't blocked by grass, leaves or anything piled against it, since it needs open airflow to release heat. If the filter is clean and the outdoor unit is clear, the system may be low on refrigerant, and that's a job for a contractor since it means there's a leak somewhere that needs finding.
- What can I check before calling for HVAC repair?
- Check the thermostat settings, the batteries if it uses them, and the breaker for the system. Check the air filter and replace it if it's gray or thick with dust, since a clogged filter is one of the most common reasons a system stops heating or cooling well. For a furnace, listen for whether it's trying to light and shutting off, which often points to the flame sensor or igniter. If you've checked these and the problem is still there, a contractor will need to look at the parts inside the cabinet, and telling them what you already checked will help them get to the answer faster.