HVAC Repair in Portsmouth, VA
Homes here need heat from November through April and cooling from May through September. If your system quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Portsmouth will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eleven months of work a year, in the heat and the cold
Portsmouth needs heat from November through April and cooling from May through September. Only one month sits idle, so the parts that start the system up and shut it down are working almost all year.
Winter nights averaging 35°F keep the burner or heat pump cycling through the night. Summer afternoons near 86°F push the compressor hard for hours at a stretch. Ten years of records show 22 damaging wind events and 6 winter storms in the area, and the outdoor unit takes that on top of the daily workload. Storms also cut power. In 2024, 22% of Virginia households went at least 24 hours without it. Most systems come back on their own once power returns, but a unit already worn from steady use is more likely to fail right at that restart.
- 6 months
- November through April, your system heats
- 5 months
- May through September, it cools
- 35°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 86°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Virginia requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
Virginia's license is issued to the contractor, not to each job, so the same license covers whatever work that contractor takes on. There is an exception. Work under $1,000 does not need a licensed contractor. A repair like this can land on either side of that line depending on what is wrong and what it takes to fix it.
For a repair over that amount, the license is what stands behind the person doing the work. It is issued by the Board for Contractors, and it belongs to the business, not to whoever they send out on a given day. That is what a homeowner here has to go on when the job is above the threshold. Below it, Virginia leaves the choice of who does the work to the homeowner.
Sources: Virginia General Assembly · Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation
- Why is my heat not working?
- Start with the thermostat. Make sure it is set to heat and set a few degrees above room temperature, and check that its display is lit up at all. If the display is dead, look at the breaker for the furnace or air handler before anything else. A tripped breaker or a dead batteries in the thermostat causes more no-heat calls than any part inside the furnace itself. If power is fine and the thermostat is calling for heat but nothing is happening, a licensed contractor needs to look at the igniter or the gas valve.
- 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 so the system runs constantly and blows air that is barely cool. Look at the outdoor unit too. If the fan is not spinning or the coil is caked with grass clippings or leaves, the system cannot get rid of the heat it is pulling out of the house. If the filter is clean and the outdoor unit looks fine, the system may be low on refrigerant, and that is a repair for a licensed contractor.
- What can I check before calling for HVAC repair?
- Check the thermostat batteries and its setting first, since a dead display or a thermostat set to the wrong mode looks exactly like a broken system. Check the breaker panel for a tripped breaker feeding the furnace, air handler, or outdoor unit. Look at the air filter and replace it if it is gray or thick with dust. If the outdoor unit is covered in leaves or debris, clear the area around it so air can move through it. None of this costs anything but a few minutes, and it rules out the simplest causes before a contractor comes out to look at the rest of the system.