HVAC Repair in Brooklyn, NY
Homes here need heat from October through April and cooling from June through September. If your system quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Kings County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eleven months of work, most years, for your system
In Kings County your system only really gets a break for a month. Heat runs October through April, seven months, and on winter nights that average 29°F the burner is cycling on and off most of the night to keep up. Cooling picks up right after for four more months, and on afternoons near 83°F the compressor runs long stretches to keep pace. That kind of schedule wears on the parts that start the system up, the igniter on a gas furnace, the capacitor on the outdoor unit, more than it wears on anything else.
Most homes here heat with gas, so a furnace that won't light is the most common cold-weather call. The county has also logged 56 damaging wind events and 16 winter storms over the past ten years, and statewide, 11% of households lost power for a day or more in 2024. When the power drops and comes back, gas furnaces and most air conditioners restart on their own. A system that doesn't start back up on its own after an outage has a problem that outage exposed, not one it caused.
- 7 months
- October through April, your system heats
- 4 months
- June through September, it cools
- 29°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 83°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 Kings County home.
Estimates for a typical Kings County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, New York 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.
- Why is my heat not working?
- Most no-heat calls come down to the thermostat, the power to the furnace, or the igniter. Check that the thermostat is set to heat and the temperature is above room temperature, since a stray setting is the simplest explanation. Next check the breaker and the furnace switch, which looks like a light switch near the unit and gets bumped off more often than people expect. If those are fine, the igniter may have failed. It's a common part to fail and it will not light the burners on its own. A furnace this old system's age and history matter here, so a contractor can tell you whether it needs a part or a closer look.
- Why is my system running but not cooling the house?
- If air is moving but it is not cold, check the filter first. A clogged filter starves the coil of airflow, and the coil can ice up as a result, which makes the problem worse the longer it runs. Check the outdoor unit too. If the fan outside is not spinning, or the unit is caked with leaves or grass clippings, it cannot release the heat it is pulling out of the house. On a day near 83°F, an undersized or struggling system will run long and still lose ground, which is worth mentioning to a contractor since it points to a refrigerant or sizing issue rather than a simple fix.
- What can I check before calling for HVAC repair?
- Start with the thermostat. Confirm the batteries are good, the setting matches what you want the system to do, and the display is actually on. Then check the breaker panel and any switch near the furnace or air handler, since a tripped breaker or a bumped switch looks exactly like a bigger failure. Check the filter and pull it out if you cannot remember the last time it was changed. Outside, make sure nothing is blocking the outdoor unit or the vent hood on the furnace. If the system still is not working after that, a contractor will need to look at it directly, and telling them what you already checked will save time on the visit.