Heating & Cooling

Your heating and cooling system is usually the single biggest energy user in the house and one of the more expensive things to repair or replace, so it pays to understand how it works before something goes wrong. Whether you have a furnace, a central air conditioner, a heat pump, or some combination, the basics are the same: the system conditions air and moves it through your home, and a few small maintenance habits make an outsized difference in how long it lasts and how much it costs to run.

Most comfort problems trace back to a handful of common causes, and many are simple enough to check yourself, a dirty filter, a thermostat set wrong, a tripped breaker, before you call anyone. The guides below cover the everyday troubleshooting, the routine maintenance that actually matters, how to think about repair versus replacement, and roughly what different jobs tend to cost. For anything involving gas lines, electrical work, or refrigerant, hire a licensed HVAC professional.