HVAC Repair in Norfolk, NE
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 Madison County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eleven months of work for one system
Your furnace runs from October through May here, and your air conditioner takes over for June through August. Only one month a year gets a break. That is eleven months of parts starting up, running, and shutting off.
Winter nights averaging 15°F mean the burner cycles on and off for hours at a stretch to hold the house steady. Summer afternoons near 83°F push the compressor hard in the other direction. Madison County has seen 23 winter storms and 71 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and a quarter of Nebraska households lost power for at least a day in 2024. When the power drops on a cold night, the furnace stops with it, and the house starts losing heat right away.
- 8 months
- October through May, your system heats
- 3 months
- June through August, it cools
- 15°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 83°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace and air conditioner would cut about $120 a year off heating and cooling for a typical Madison County home.
Estimates for a typical Madison 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 puts the business on file with the Nebraska Department of Labor. It does not mean anyone tested the contractor's knowledge of furnaces or air conditioners, and there is no exam or state license behind the number, just a record that the business exists.
For a heating and cooling repair, that record is what Nebraska offers. It does not speak to gas connections or refrigerant work, and the state's registration does not cover either. Whatever oversight applies to those parts of the job comes from somewhere other than this registration.
Source: Nebraska Legislature
- Why is my heat not working?
- Start with the thermostat and the power to the furnace. If the thermostat screen is blank or set to cool instead of heat, that alone will stop the furnace from firing. Check the breaker and the furnace switch, which looks like a light switch near the unit. If those are fine, the igniter or the flame sensor is a common failure point on gas furnaces, and a dirty flame sensor will shut the burners off as a safety measure even though nothing else is wrong. With winter nights here dropping to 15°F, a furnace that won't hold heat needs attention fast, so if the basics check out, get a contractor out before the next cold night.
- Why is my system running but not cooling the house?
- If the blower is running but the air isn't cold, check the air filter first. A clogged filter chokes airflow across the coil, and the coil can ice over, which makes the problem worse the longer the system runs. Check the outdoor unit too. If the outdoor fan isn't spinning or the coil is covered in dirt or leaves, the system can't reject heat, and it will run without actually cooling. If the filter is clean and the outdoor unit looks fine, the system is likely low on refrigerant or has an electrical fault, and that calls for a contractor with gauges and meters to find it.
- What can I check before calling for HVAC repair?
- Check the thermostat batteries and settings first, since a dead battery or a wrong mode causes more no-heat and no-cool calls than people expect. Check the breaker panel for a tripped breaker and look at the furnace or air handler for a power switch that may have been bumped off. Pull the air filter and hold it up to a light. If you can't see light through it, replace it, since a blocked filter can cause both heating and cooling problems. If the outdoor unit is covered in ice, snow, or debris, clear it. After a storm, especially with how often wind and winter weather knock out power here, check whether the unit simply needs to be reset or is waiting for you to turn the thermostat back on. If none of that brings it back, a contractor will need to look at what's inside the cabinet.