HVAC Repair in Alliance, NE
Homes here need heat from September through May and cooling from June through August. If your system quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Box Butte County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Nine months of heat, three of cooling, and the cold does the damage
Your furnace in Box Butte County works from September through May. On winter nights averaging 15°F, it runs long and hard to keep up, cycling on and off for hours at a stretch. That kind of work wears on the igniter and the heat exchanger, and a furnace that has run all winter without trouble can still fail on the coldest night, because that is when it is working the hardest.
Summer is short here, just June through August, with afternoons averaging 84°F. The air conditioner does not run as many months as the furnace does, but it still has to hold up on the hottest days. Wind is part of life here too. Box Butte County has seen 72 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and wind that strong can loosen an outdoor unit's wiring or shift it on its pad. A quarter of Nebraska households lost power for at least a day in 2024, and a system that will not start back up after an outage is worth a call.
- 9 months
- September through May, your system heats
- 3 months
- June through August, it cools
- 15°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 84°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 Box Butte County home.
Estimates for a typical Box Butte County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Nebraska 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.
Nebraska requires contractors to register with the state.
Registration means the business is on file with the Nebraska Department of Labor. Nobody tested the contractor's knowledge of furnaces or air conditioners to get that record. It tells you the business exists on paper. It does not tell you the work will be done right.
For a repair like this, that record is what Nebraska offers. It is not a license, and it does not stand in for one. Gas connections are the dangerous part of a heating repair, since a bad one can leak, and registration alone does not check that work. What protects you here is the contractor's own care on the job, not a state test behind the name.
Source: Nebraska Legislature
- Why is my heat not working?
- Start with the thermostat. Check that it's set to heat and the temperature is set above room temperature, and check the batteries if it has a screen that looks dim or blank. If the thermostat looks fine, go check the breaker box, since a tripped breaker will shut the whole furnace down. Gas furnaces also have a flame sensor and an igniter that wear out over time, and either one failing will stop the furnace from lighting even though it's still trying to run. At 15°F on a winter night here, a furnace that won't fire needs attention fast, so if the breaker and thermostat both check out, that's the point to call for repair.
- 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 when that happens the coil can ice over and stop cooling the air even though the system is running. Check that the outdoor unit isn't covered in leaves or grass clippings, since it needs open airflow to release heat. If the filter's clean and the outdoor unit is clear but the air coming from the vents isn't cold, the system likely needs a contractor to check the refrigerant charge, which isn't something to top off yourself.
- What can I check before calling for HVAC repair?
- Check the thermostat settings, the batteries if it uses any, and the breaker for the system. Check the air filter and replace it if it's gray or thick with dust, since a blocked filter causes both heating and cooling problems. If you have a gas furnace, check whether the pilot light or igniter display shows an error code, and check that the outdoor unit for your AC isn't blocked by anything. Write down what you find, since telling the contractor what you already checked helps them get to the real problem faster.