HVAC Repair in Wilmington, DE
Homes here need heat from October through April and cooling from June through September. If your system quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers New Castle County will get in touch.
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It takes about a minute.
Eleven months of work a year, with storms on top
Your system in Wilmington only gets a break for about a month. Heat runs October through April, then cooling takes over in June and doesn't let up until fall. That's eleven months where something in the house is always cycling on.
Winter nights averaging 27°F mean the burner or the heat pump is firing often, all night, for months at a stretch. Summer afternoons near 85°F push the compressor just as hard the other half of the year. More than half the homes here heat with gas, so that burner and its igniter are doing real work every winter night. New Castle County has logged 11 winter storms and 228 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and in 2024, 12% of Delaware households lost power for a full day or more. A furnace or air conditioner that loses power mid-cycle and comes back on to a house that's already cold or already hot is starting under load, and that's when a weak part finally gives out.
- 7 months
- October through April, your system heats
- 4 months
- June through September, it cools
- 27°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 85°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace and air conditioner would cut about $150 a year off heating and cooling for a typical New Castle County home.
Estimates for a typical New Castle County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Delaware 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.
Delaware requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The license is issued to the contractor by the Board of Plumbing, Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Examiners. The board tested the contractor before putting their name on record, and the license is tied to that person or business, not to any single job.
For a repair to a heating and cooling system, that license is what stands behind the work. It covers the contractor doing the job, not this particular repair on its own, so the same license applies whether the work is small or large.
Sources: Delaware Code Online · Delaware Division of Professional Regulation
- Why is my heat not working?
- Start with the thermostat. Check that it is set to heat and set a few degrees above room temperature, and check the batteries if it uses them. If that is not it, go look at the breaker panel, because a tripped breaker will kill power to the furnace before it ever tries to light. A furnace that hums or clicks but will not ignite often has a dirty flame sensor or a failed igniter, and either one is a job for a licensed contractor. If the flame lights but the air coming out is not warm, or the system shuts off after a few minutes, that points to a different problem and is worth a call too, especially with nights averaging 27°F here in the winter.
- Why is my system running but not cooling the house?
- Check the air filter first. A filter clogged with dust chokes airflow across the coil, and the coil can freeze over when that happens, which stops it from pulling heat out of the air at all. Next check the outdoor unit and clear away anything blocking it, leaves, grass clippings, a fence too close. If the filter is clean and the outdoor unit is clear but the air still is not cold, the system may be low on refrigerant, and only a licensed contractor can check that and add more if needed.
- What can I check before calling for HVAC repair?
- Check the thermostat settings and its batteries first, since a dead battery or a setting bumped to the wrong mode causes a lot of no-heat and no-cool calls. Check the breaker panel for anything tripped. Look at the air filter and replace it if it is dark with dust, since a clogged filter can stop a system from heating or cooling well. If the system uses a standing pilot, check whether it is still lit. Past that, a licensed contractor can diagnose the rest, and Delaware requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license, so ask for it before any work starts.