AC Repair and HVAC Service in Holiday, FL

Storms, power and the equipment outside your house

Low ground and drainage

Older houses

Redevelopment along U.S. 19

Pasco County exempts "air conditioning repair of existing equipment" from the building permit requirement. That exemption does not apply to buildings or parcels located in special flood hazard areas (flood zones). In a flood zone, even a repair can fall outside the exemption. Check your address before you assume a job needs no permit.

Holiday is not a separate community in FEMA's revised countywide Pasco flood study, which lists six incorporated communities plus Pasco County's unincorporated areas. So the building permit for an AC replacement in Holiday is issued by Pasco County, through Pasco County Building Construction Services, and not by a city. Applications go through the county's PascoGateway portal, which requires an applicant to register an account and have their license linked, or have delegation permissions to a licensed account. For that reason a licensed contractor normally pulls the permit. Blume holds Florida license CAC-1822618.

In flood zones there is an added requirement. A FEMA Substantial Improvement Package is required for improvements to properties in a special flood hazard area.

A "50 percent rule" can also apply after storm damage. When local officials determine a home is substantially damaged, owners may need to repair to current local building standards, and many local ordinances apply this when repair cost is 50 percent or more of the home's fair market value. If a storm has damaged your house, ask the county whether it has determined the home to be substantially damaged before you plan the AC work.

The effective date for the Florida Building Code, 8th Edition (2023), is December 31, 2023. Pasco County's residential electrical permit checklist lists its applicable codes as the 2020 Florida Building Codes, 7th Edition, including the Mechanical volume. We confirm the applicable edition with the county when we pull a permit. For more on how permits work across the state, see HVAC permits in Florida.

Blume Mechanical Service is a Class A licensed Florida mechanical contractor with its office in Belleair Bluffs, serving Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco counties. We do design-build, maintenance, repair, installation and replacement for residential and commercial properties. Blume works with EPA Section 608 certified technicians. Blume installs and services all major brands as a licensed contractor. Financing is available through Synchrony Bank, and paid priority scheduling is available for customers who want it.

• AC repair and diagnosis. Warm air from the vents, a system that will not start, a unit that runs without cooling, water around the indoor unit, or ice on the lines.
• Heating repair. Heat pumps and furnaces that fail to heat or cycle on and off.
• Maintenance. Seasonal checks of coils, drains, airflow and electrical connections. Our AC maintenance checklist for Florida lists what to check between visits.
• Replacement and new installation. We size equipment for a home with an ACCA Manual J load calculation and Manual S equipment selection, not by swapping in the same size as before.
• Commercial work. Cooling and ventilation for light commercial and mixed-use spaces.

1. You call and describe the problem. A person answers the 24/7 dispatch line. We offer 24/7 emergency HVAC service, with same-day response available based on location and technician availability.
2. The technician diagnoses before recommending anything. That means checking the thermostat, the electrical supply, airflow and refrigerant-side performance, and reading what the system is doing. For flooded or storm-exposed equipment, the technician checks the condition of the outdoor unit, its pad and the condensate drain.
3. You get the findings in plain language. If the system can be repaired, we say what needs to be done and why. If replacement makes more sense, we lay the repair and replacement numbers side by side. We do not sell equipment a building does not need.
4. The work is done and the system is tested. For installations, we commission the system with measured static pressure, airflow and refrigerant charge, and document those measurements.

• After a storm. Call before you run the system if the outdoor unit sat in water, if debris hit it, or if power surged. Running a damaged unit can turn a small repair into a large one.
• When the home will not cool. In Holiday's humid summers, a house that stays warm and damp is more than uncomfortable. A system that is running but not removing humidity needs attention.
• When there is water inside. A wet ceiling, a damp air handler closet or a pan overflowing usually points to a condensate drain problem.
• Before you replace. If your house is one of the older ones and the system is near the end of its life, a load calculation and a duct check come before the equipment decision.
• At any hour for an emergency. A system failure in the middle of the rainy season is not something to wait out.