Heating Repair in Tampa, FL

The numbers below come from NOAA's 30-year climate normals for the Tampa International Airport station, covering 1991 to 2020.

• Average winter low: 54.7°F across December, January and February.
• Nights at or below 40°F: about 7.5 days a year.
• Nights at or below 32°F: 0.8 days a year, so fewer than one in an average year.

With about 7.5 nights a year at or below 40°F, a heating fault can go unnoticed until the first cold front arrives. A heat pump that worked last February has spent the long summer in between cooling. Strip heaters that have not glowed for months may have collected a layer of dust.

Tampa has a wide mix of homes. The University of Florida GeoPlan Center's report on Census data counts 174,740 housing units in the city in the 2019-2023 survey. Of those, 101,094 are single-family units, 71,135 are multi-family units and 2,329 are mobile homes.

Two setups are described below.

A heat pump. The U.S. Department of Energy describes a heat pump as a system that collects heat from the outside air and concentrates it for use inside. It does double duty as the central air conditioner in summer. A heat pump can also have backup electric-resistance heat, which the Department of Energy calls a more expensive type of heating.

Electric heat strips with straight cooling. The outdoor unit only cools, and all of the heat comes from electric elements in the indoor air handler. In heating mode the outdoor unit stays quiet.

If you are not sure which you have, our guide on how to tell if you have a heat pump walks through it.

The same Census data counts 78,479 renter-occupied homes in Tampa, close to the 79,877 that owners live in. If you rent, check with your landlord or property manager first.

These are the only checks we suggest a homeowner make. They need no tools, and nothing gets opened.

1. Thermostat settings. Make sure it is set to Heat, with the set temperature above the room temperature. After months on Cool this is easy to miss. Check that the display is lit and the fan is set to Auto, which is also Tampa Electric's advice.
2. The air filter. Look at it and replace it if it is grey or clogged. The Department of Energy and Tampa Electric both suggest checking filters monthly.
3. Vents, returns and the outdoor unit. Open the supply registers and move furniture, rugs or drapes away from them and from the return grille. Clear leaves and clutter from around the outdoor unit.

If a breaker for the heating system has tripped, leave it off and call a licensed contractor.

Do not remove panels from the indoor unit or the outdoor unit. The wiring, heat strips, capacitors and refrigerant lines behind those panels are work for a licensed contractor.

A smell like burning toast

Trane, the equipment manufacturer, says a smell like burning toast the first time the heat runs is most likely accumulated dust burning off. It says that smell should go away in 10 to 15 minutes.

An electrical or melting-plastic smell

This is different. Trane's advice for a burning electrical or burning plastic smell at the indoor or outdoor unit is to shut the system off and call for repairs. Leave it off until a technician has looked at it.

The heat pump gets loud and the fan stops

Trane notes that heat pumps naturally get louder when they enter a defrost cycle, and that during defrost mode a heat pump will make a humming noise while the fan is stopped, which is normal. The sound should settle within a few minutes. Our page on heat pump defrost mode explains the cycle.

The air from the vents is cool

A heat pump that runs but blows cool air in heat mode needs a diagnosis. Our heat pump repair page for Tampa covers those faults in detail.

Tampa Electric's service area takes in Hillsborough County. In January 2026 the utility advised heat pump owners to change the thermostat only two degrees at a time. Its reason is to avoid switching on the supplemental heat strip.

The Department of Energy gives similar advice. It warns against setting back a heat pump thermostat by hand if that brings on the backup electric-resistance heat, because that type of heating is more expensive.

Tampa Electric also points out that a cold snap can raise a bill even when the thermostat never moves. Heat escapes faster when it is colder outside, so the system runs longer to hold the same indoor temperature.

As always, work with an HVAC professional to pinpoint a problem and provide the solution. Our guide to emergency heat explains the Emergency Heat setting on a heat pump thermostat.

A heating diagnosis should end with one named cause and the readings that support it.

• The heat call: whether the thermostat is asking for heat and the indoor unit is answering.
• Electric heat: the strips, their safety limits and the connections that feed them.
• Airflow: blower operation and measured static pressure in the ducts.
• Heat pump operation: refrigerant charge, measured rather than guessed, plus the defrost cycle.

Blume's refrigerant work is done by EPA Section 608 certified technicians, the federal refrigerant-handling credential. You receive a written, upfront price before any work begins.

The City of Tampa runs its own Construction Services division, and homes inside city limits follow its permit rules.

• Repairs: the City says plans are not required for minor mechanical repairs.
• Change-outs: it lists an A/C change-out among projects that do not need plan review. Those permits can be obtained through its Express Permits service.
• Inspection: work that needs a permit must be inspected by the City and given a final inspection approval.
• Licensing: the City says contractors must be licensed by the local jurisdiction or by the State of Florida for the kinds of work those governments regulate. A contractor must show a state license or a Hillsborough County competency card when asked.

Blume holds a State of Florida license, CAC-1822618. The City's Contractor Information page gives basic information on a contractor's certification and the work it can perform.

With so few cold nights in Tampa, it is tempting to leave a heating fault until next winter. On a heat pump, though, the same machine does the cooling, so a fault found now may matter again in summer.

One failed part is a repair. If the diagnosis finds a larger failure on older equipment, Blume shows repair and replacement side by side and does not sell equipment a home does not need. Replacement equipment is sized with an ACCA Manual J load calculation and Manual S selection. Financing is available through Synchrony Bank. For summer problems, see AC repair in Tampa.

Blume Mechanical Service, LLC is a Class A licensed Florida air conditioning contractor (license CAC-1822618) and is fully insured. We are brand-agnostic and service all major manufacturers' equipment. Our office is at 2840 West Bay Drive #114, Belleair Bluffs, FL 33770. Our core service area is Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco counties; see all Tampa services.

What to have ready when you call

• Whether the outdoor unit runs when the thermostat is set to Heat.
• What the thermostat is set to and what it reads.
• Whether a breaker for the system has tripped.
• Any smell, and whether it faded or stayed.
• Whether you own the home or rent it.
• When the heat last worked.