HVAC Repair in Vancouver, WA
Homes here need heat from October through June and cooling from August through August. If your system quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Clark County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Nine months of heat, one month of cooling, and a grid that doesn't always hold
Your furnace is the workhorse here. Clark County needs heat from October through June, and on winter nights that average 35°F it runs for long stretches instead of short bursts. That kind of steady demand wears on the igniter and the blower motor before anything dramatic happens. You notice it as a furnace that takes longer to catch, or one that runs but never quite gets the house warm.
Most homes here heat with electricity, so when the power goes out, the heat goes with it. Washington saw 23% of households lose power for a full day or more in 2024, and this area has logged six winter storms and two damaging wind events over the past ten years. When the power comes back, a heat pump or electric furnace should start again on its own. If yours doesn't, that's worth a call. Summer is short and mild by comparison, cooling only needed in August with afternoons around 77°F, so the air conditioner or heat pump gets far less use, but it still needs to be ready for the handful of weeks it has to work.
- 9 months
- October through June, your system heats
- 1 months
- August through August, it cools
- 35°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 77°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Washington requires contractors to register with the state.
That registration puts the business on file with the Department of Labor and Industries. Nobody at the state tests the contractor on how to work on a furnace or an AC system before handing that out, so the record shows the business exists, not that anyone checked its skill.
On a heating and cooling repair, that registration is what Washington has to offer. It does not test the contractor's work on this job, so whatever check exists on the actual repair comes from somewhere other than the state record.
Source: Washington State Legislature
- Why is my heat not working?
- Start with the thermostat and the power to the furnace. If the thermostat screen is blank, check the breaker and any switch that looks like a light switch near the furnace. If it has power but nothing kicks on, the igniter is a common failure, and on older furnaces the pilot light may have gone out. Furnaces here run October through June, so a dead igniter in the middle of that stretch is worth a same-week fix, not something to put off.
- Why is my system running but not cooling the house?
- The fan running without cold air usually means the outdoor unit isn't doing its job, or air isn't moving through the house right. Check the filter first, a clogged one chokes airflow and can ice up the coil. If the filter is clean and the outdoor unit isn't running at all, or is running but the air at the vents is warm, that points to something a contractor needs to look at, like a refrigerant leak or a failed compressor. With afternoons here reaching 77°F, a system that's only cooling part of the house or running long without catching up shouldn't wait.
- What can I check before calling for HVAC repair?
- Check the thermostat batteries and settings first, then the breaker for the system. Check the filter and swap it if it's dirty, a blocked filter causes both heating and cooling problems. Look for anything blocking the outdoor unit, like leaves or ice, and make sure vents inside the house aren't closed or covered. If you've checked all this and the system still isn't heating or cooling right, a contractor will need to diagnose it, and the exact fix and price depend on what they find.