HVAC Repair in Preston, ID
Homes here need heat from September through June and cooling from July through August. If your system quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Franklin County will get in touch.
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Ten months of heat, two months of cooling, and little rest between
Your furnace in Franklin County runs from September through June. On the coldest nights, when the temperature drops to 16°F, it cycles on and off many times to hold the heat, and each start puts wear on the igniter and the burner. Those parts wear down slowly, then fail. The house goes cold and stays cold.
July and August put the load on your air conditioner instead, working against afternoons near 80°F. Two months is short next to the ten furnace puts in, but it is enough to expose a weak capacitor or a low refrigerant charge. Franklin County has also seen 62 winter storms and 10 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and outages can knock out a furnace or an air conditioner as easily as they knock out the lights.
- 10 months
- September through June, your system heats
- 2 months
- July through August, it cools
- 16°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 80°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Idaho requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The license is issued to the contractor by Idaho's HVAC Board, not to each job that contractor takes on. That means the state has tested this person or business before letting them work on heating and cooling equipment, and it keeps a record of who holds that license. It does not mean the state signs off on this particular repair in Franklin County.
For a repair job like this one, the license is what stands behind the person doing the work. Because the license belongs to the contractor and not the job, the thing worth knowing is whether the name on the license matches the person or business actually in your house.
Sources: Idaho Legislature · Idaho Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses
- Why is my heat not working?
- Most of the time it comes down to power, gas, or airflow. If the thermostat screen is blank or the system will not respond at all, check the breaker first. If the burners will not light, the igniter or the flame sensor is often the cause, and neither is something to test yourself. A dirty filter can also block enough airflow to trip the furnace's safety switch and shut the whole thing down. With winter nights here averaging 16°F, a furnace that will not start needs attention fast, so if the breaker and filter check out, call for a repair.
- Why is my system running but not cooling the house?
- The system is moving air, so the fan and motor are working, but something else is keeping that air from getting cold. A clogged filter can choke off airflow across the indoor coil until it freezes over. A refrigerant leak does the same thing from a different cause. Sometimes the outdoor unit itself is the problem, coated in dirt or grass clippings so it can't shed the heat it's pulling from the house. Check the filter first, since that's the one thing worth trying before calling someone out.
- What can I check before calling for HVAC repair?
- Check the thermostat batteries and the setting itself, since a dead battery or a mode switched to the wrong setting looks exactly like a bigger problem. Check the breaker box for a tripped switch. Pull the filter and look at it against the light. If it's gray and packed with dust, replace it, since that alone fixes a surprising number of heating and cooling complaints. If none of that changes anything, the issue is inside the equipment, and that's a job for a licensed contractor. Idaho requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license through the state's HVAC Board, so ask for that license before anyone starts work.