HVAC Repair in Augusta, ME
Homes here need heat from September through May and cooling from July through August. If your system quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Kennebec County will get in touch.
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Nine months of heat, and not much room for a system to fail
Your furnace works from September through May here. On winter nights that average 13°F, it runs long and cycles on and off for hours at a time. That kind of cold puts real hours on an igniter and a burner. When one of those parts wears out, the furnace either won't start or won't keep up, and you feel it fast at 13°F.
Summer is short here, just July and August, with afternoons around 77°F. An air conditioner that sits idle most of the year still needs to start right up the first hot day it is asked to run.
The county has also seen 40 winter storms and 55 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and more than half of Maine households lost power for at least a day in 2024. A furnace or heat pump usually comes back on by itself once power returns, but if it doesn't restart, that's worth a look before the next cold night.
- 9 months
- September through May, your system heats
- 2 months
- July through August, it cools
- 13°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 77°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
- Why is my heat not working?
- Start with your thermostat and your breaker panel before anything else. If it's set to heat and the temperature is above room temp but nothing is happening, check the breaker for the furnace or air handler, since a tripped breaker is the most common reason a system goes dead with no warning. If you have a gas furnace, look for a pilot light or listen for the igniter trying to fire. With 61.7% of homes here heating with fuel oil, an empty tank or a clogged oil filter is also worth ruling out early. If power, fuel and thermostat all check out and you still have no heat, that points to something a contractor needs to diagnose.
- Why is my system running but not cooling the house?
- The blower running with no cool air usually means the problem is at the outdoor unit or the airflow, not the thermostat. Check your air filter first. A filter clogged with dust chokes off airflow and can ice up the coil, and once that happens the system blows air but it won't be cold. Also look at the outdoor condenser unit. If the fan isn't spinning or the coil is caked in leaves and grass clippings, it can't release heat and the house won't cool no matter how long it runs. If the filter's clean and the outdoor unit looks clear, the refrigerant charge or a failing part is likely the cause, and that's a job for a contractor with gauges.
- What can I check before calling for HVAC repair?
- Check your thermostat settings first, since a battery that's died or a schedule that got changed can look exactly like a broken system. Next check your breaker panel and any furnace switch, since both heating and cooling systems have dedicated breakers that can trip. Look at your air filter and replace it if it's gray or clogged, since restricted airflow causes both no-heat and no-cool complaints. If you heat with fuel oil, confirm you have fuel in the tank. With winter nights here averaging 13°F, a system that struggles or trips out in that kind of cold is worth getting looked at quickly rather than waiting. If everything above checks out and the problem is still there, that's the point to call a contractor and describe what you found.