HVAC Repair in Paterson, NJ
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 Passaic County will get in touch.
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Eleven months of work, most winters below freezing
Your furnace runs from October through May here, then the AC takes over for June through August. That is eleven months where the system is doing something, with almost no rest between. Paterson winter nights average 23°F, so the burner is cycling on and off for hours at a stretch to keep up. Most homes in Passaic County heat with gas, and every one of those cycles depends on the igniter lighting the burner cleanly. When it starts to wear, it misfires or fails outright, and the house goes cold on the coldest nights of the year, not the mild ones.
Summer runs the other way. Afternoons averaging 82°F mean the condenser outside is working hard all summer, and a low refrigerant charge or a failing capacitor shows up as a system that runs long and still can't cool the house. Passaic County has also seen 42 damaging wind events and 29 winter storms over the past ten years, and statewide about 11% of households lost power for a full day or more in 2024. A furnace or AC that loses power mid-cycle does not always come back on the way it should, and that is worth checking after any outage.
- 8 months
- October through May, your system heats
- 3 months
- June through August, it cools
- 23°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 82°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 Passaic County home.
Estimates for a typical Passaic County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, New Jersey 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.
New Jersey requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The license comes from the State Board of Examiners of Heating, Ventilating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractors. It covers the contractor, not the job, so the same license applies whether the work is a repair, a new install, or a service call. Because this is a state license, no town in Passaic County can require its own on top of it. That holds no matter where in the county the home is.
For a repair to a heating and cooling system, that license is what stands behind the person doing the work. The state has tested and keeps a record of the contractor before they ever walk into your home.
Sources: New Jersey Legislature · New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs
- Why is my heat not working?
- Start with the thermostat. Make sure it is set to heat and the temperature is above room temperature, since a setting bumped by accident is a common cause. If the thermostat looks right, check the breaker for the furnace and the switch that looks like a light switch near it. Gas furnaces also need pilot or ignition power, so if the igniter or pilot has failed, the furnace will not fire even though the blower runs. With winter nights here averaging 23°F, a furnace that will not start needs attention fast, so if the basic checks do not fix it, a licensed contractor should look at it the same day.
- 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 the system will run without cooling the house. Next check the outdoor unit. If the coil is covered in leaves or debris, or if ice has formed on it, the system cannot move heat outside the way it should. If the filter is clean and the outdoor unit is clear, the refrigerant charge may be low, and that is a job for a licensed contractor to check and correct.
- What can I check before calling for HVAC repair?
- Check the thermostat settings, the batteries in it if it uses them, and the breaker for the system. Check the air filter and replace it if it is dirty, since a blocked filter causes both weak heat and weak cooling. Look at the vents in each room and make sure furniture or rugs are not blocking them. For a gas furnace, check whether the pilot light is lit or whether the unit is showing an error code on its display. If everything checks out and the problem is still there, a licensed contractor can diagnose what the basic checks cannot find.