HVAC Repair in Buffalo, NY
Homes here need heat from October through May and cooling from July through August. If your system quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Erie County will get in touch.
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Ten months a year, your system is working
Heat runs October through May here, and cooling picks up for July and August. That's ten months where your furnace or your air conditioner is the thing standing between you and the weather outside.
Winter nights average 19°F, and most homes in the county heat with gas. Cold like that means long burner cycles, night after night, and every start puts wear on the igniter. When it finally gives out, the burner won't light and the house goes cold. Summer asks less of the system, with afternoons only averaging 78°F, but the wind doesn't care about the season. Erie County has logged 241 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and wind like that works loose a duct connection or a wire on your outdoor unit. Add in 45 winter storms over that same stretch, and the outages that come with them, and a system that has to restart itself cold more often than most.
- 8 months
- October through May, your system heats
- 2 months
- July through August, it cools
- 19°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 78°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace and air conditioner would cut about $190 a year off heating and cooling for a typical Erie County home.
Estimates for a typical Erie 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?
- Start with the thermostat. Check that it's set to heat, not just fan, and that the temperature you want is above the room temperature. If that's fine, check the breaker and any switch that looks like a light switch near the furnace, since that shuts the whole unit off. Most furnaces here run on gas, so if the burners aren't lighting, a closed gas valve or a tripped safety switch on the flue is a common cause. At 19°F on a winter night this isn't something to leave for later, so if the basics check out and it still won't run, that points to a repair a contractor needs to look at directly.
- Why is my system running but not cooling the house?
- First check the filter. A clogged filter chokes off airflow across the coil, and the coil can ice up when that happens, which makes the problem worse the longer it runs. Next look at the outdoor unit and clear away any leaves or grass clippings blocking it. If the air coming from the vents is warm rather than just weak, that's usually a refrigerant issue, and that's not something to chase on your own. It's worth checking now, since cooling season here is short and you don't want it down for the only warm months you need it.
- What can I check before calling for HVAC repair?
- Check the thermostat first. Make sure it's set to the right mode and the batteries aren't dead, since a dead thermostat looks exactly like a dead system. Check the breaker panel next, and reset anything that's tripped. Look at the filter and replace it if it's dark or clogged, since restricted airflow causes problems on both the heating and cooling side. If you have a gas furnace, check that the gas valve is open and that any switch near the unit hasn't been bumped off. If the power went out recently, give the system a few minutes after power comes back, since some equipment resets itself before it starts up again. If none of that gets it running, that's the point to have a contractor take a look.