What Should You Do If Your HVAC System Stops Working?

Systems always seem to breakdown on the hottest day of the Summer or the coldest night of the Winter. When this eventually does happen, S.J. Kowalski, Inc. has you covered.

Picture this: You’re comfortably sitting in your Living Room, watching TV with your air- conditioning or furnace humming away until suddenly all goes quiet. What do you do?

Heating and cooling equipment is very complicated and while repairs are generally beyond the abilities of the typical homeowner, there a few things you can check before calling for service. First, some thermostats require battery power for proper operation. Check and install fresh batteries if necessary. Next, check the circuit breakers in your electrical panel box and reset if tripped. Finally, check your filter. A dirty or clogged filter will cause your system to shut down. If none of these items remedy the situation, it’s time to give S.J. Kowalski’s HVAC service department a call at 570-455-2600.

If your breakdown occurs in the Summer, you can set the fan switch on your thermostat to the “on” position to keep the air circulating throughout your home while closing the curtains to keep the heat out until we arrive.

If your breakdown occurs in the Winter, check you outdoor heat pump unit. A heavy ice accumulation on the outdoor unit indicates a defrost problem. Trying to chip it away is not recommended but turning the outdoor unit off at the breaker box and letting it defrost naturally is recommended. If safe to do so, a small portable electric space heater in the room you’re in is a temporary solution until we get there. Also, open Kitchen and Bathroom cabinet doors and let faucets drip to help prevent water line freeze-ups. If you have a propane gas warm air system, first check the fuel level on the gauge on your outdoor tank and get it filled if necessary. If you detect the odor of either propane or natural gas in your home, don’t touch any light switches, immediately go outside and call either UGI, your propane supplier or local fire department to report a leak.

The best thing you can do to help prevent a system failure is annual routine maintenance. Regular maintenance visits are much more cost effective than a repair visit and many times our technicians can discover a weak component before it has a chance to fail.

Give us a call today at 570-455-2600 to schedule your system maintenance.

And finally, after 37 years in the HVAC business, our salesman John “Nick” Nicolardi will be retiring effective April 29'h. Nick joined the S.J.Kowalski, Inc. team in 2012. Nick was an outstanding salesman. We consider him part of our family and will surely miss him. Taking his place will be Jacob Bower who will be moving from our service department into our sales department. We wish both Jacob well in his new sales position and Nick well in his retirement.