HVAC Repair in St. Paul, MN
Homes here need heat from October through May and cooling from June through August. If your system quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Ramsey County will get in touch.
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Eleven months of work a year in Ramsey County
Your furnace runs from October through May here. On winter nights that average 10°F, it fires again and again to hold the house against the cold. Every start puts wear on the igniter. When it finally gives out, the burner won't light at all.
Summer flips the load onto your air conditioner for June through August, with afternoons around 80°F. Ramsey County has seen 31 winter storms and 42 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and in 2024 alone, 13% of Minnesota households lost power for a day or more. A furnace or AC that won't restart after an outage, or a system that took a hit from wind or ice, needs someone who can tell what the storm did from what was already wearing out.
- 8 months
- October through May, your system heats
- 3 months
- June through August, it cools
- 10°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 80°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace and air conditioner would cut about $130 a year off heating and cooling for a typical Ramsey County home.
Estimates for a typical Ramsey County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Minnesota 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.
Minnesota has no state license for HVAC contractors.
There is no state license and no state registration for this work in Minnesota. That means there is no state record to check on a contractor doing a heating and cooling repair, and no state test they had to pass to do it.
Without that state record, the license is not the thing standing between this reader and a bad repair, because there is no license to point to. Whatever protection exists here comes from somewhere other than a state board.
Source: Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes
- Why is my heat not working?
- Start with the thermostat. Check that it's set to heat and the temperature is set above the room temperature, and check the batteries if it has a screen that looks dim. If the thermostat looks fine, check your breaker panel for a tripped breaker, since a furnace on a tripped breaker will do nothing at all. Gas furnaces also need a pilot or an igniter to light the burners, so a furnace that runs the blower but never gets warm often has an ignition problem a contractor needs to look at. At 10°F outside, a furnace that's out for even a few hours is worth calling in fast.
- Why is my system running but not cooling the house?
- Check the air filter first. A filter clogged with dust blocks airflow across the coil, and without enough airflow the coil can ice over and stop cooling the air that passes through it. Check that the outdoor unit isn't blocked by grass clippings, leaves, or anything else pressed against it, since it needs open air around it to release heat. If the filter is clean and the outdoor unit is clear, the system may be low on refrigerant, and that's a repair for a contractor since it means there's a leak somewhere in the line.
- What can I check before calling for HVAC repair?
- Check the thermostat settings, the batteries if it uses any, and the breaker panel first, since these cause a real share of no-heat and no-cool calls. Check the air filter next and replace it if it's gray or clogged, since restricted airflow affects both heating and cooling. Look at the vents around the house and make sure furniture or rugs aren't blocking them. If the outdoor unit is covered in debris, clear the area around it. If you've checked these and the system still isn't heating or cooling, a contractor will need to look at what's inside the unit itself.