AC Repair in Lutz, FL (Pasco County)

Lutz is not an incorporated city.

For a home on the Pasco County side of Lutz, two things matter for your air conditioner:

• Permits and inspections come from Pasco County Building Construction Services, not a city building department.
• Your electric company is one of the providers that serve Pasco County, and which one depends on your address.

If your Lutz address is in Hillsborough County, permit questions go to Hillsborough County Development Services at (813) 272-5600. Our Lutz HVAC page covers the community as a whole.

These need no tools and no panels opened. Stop at any step that feels unsafe.

1. Thermostat. ENERGY STAR's maintenance checklist starts with checking thermostat settings. Confirm the thermostat is on Cool, set below the room temperature, with the fan on Auto. Replace the batteries if the screen is faint or blank.
2. Air filter. ENERGY STAR says to check the filter once a month, and that a dirty filter can lead to early equipment failure. A clogged filter can starve the system of air.
3. Outdoor unit. With the system off, pull leaves, grass clippings and branches away from the cabinet by hand. Do not hose, comb or bend the thin metal fins.
4. Drain line. ENERGY STAR says a plugged drain can cause water damage in the house and affect indoor humidity. Look at the pan under the air handler. If it holds water, or the system shut itself off with a full pan, leave it off.
5. Ice. If you see ice on the copper lines or the indoor coil, switch cooling off and let it thaw before anyone runs it again.

Do not open the outdoor unit's electrical panel, handle the capacitor (the part that helps the motors start), or add refrigerant (the fluid that carries heat out of the house). That work belongs to a licensed contractor. Our guide to an AC that will not turn on goes through the same first checks in more detail.

The figures below are NOAA's 1991-2020 climate normals for Tampa International Airport. They are climate averages, not statistics from our service calls.

Months of 90-degree days

At Tampa International Airport, a normal June has 18.2 days that reach 90°F or more. July has 20.6 and August has 22.4. September still averages 17.9, and May averages 9.6. From May through September, every month averages more than nine such days, so a system has to keep working through five months of heat.

Warm nights

The normal August low at the airport is 76.8°F, against a high of 91.2°F. The normal gap between the day's high and low narrows from 18.5 degrees in January to 14.4 degrees in July and August. On a summer night the house does not cool down much on its own, so the air conditioner keeps running after dark.

Wet season and the drain line

The normal rainfall at the airport jumps from 2.60 inches in May to 7.37 inches in June. August is the wettest month, at 9.03 inches. The indoor coil pulls water out of the air the whole time the system runs, and that water leaves through a small drain line. When that line plugs, ENERGY STAR says it can cause water damage in the house and affect indoor humidity levels. Our guide to an AC leaking water explains the warning signs, and our guide to an AC freezing up explains why a starved coil ices over.

If the lights and the refrigerator are off too, the problem is the power, not the air conditioner. The Pasco Economic Development Council says Pasco County is served by three electric providers. It says Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative (WREC) primarily serves the northern and central portions of the county, except the Dade City area. It says Duke Energy primarily serves southwest Pasco and the Zephyrhills area. Tampa Electric is the third provider it lists. Check which company's name is on your bill, and report a whole-house outage to that company.

When the power comes back, set the thermostat to off for a few minutes before switching cooling back on. If the air conditioner is the only thing that will not start, go back to the safe checks above. Our guide to AC surge protection in Florida explains how outages and surges affect equipment.

Storms are not new to Lutz. Hillsborough County records that the first school in Lutz was a one-room frame building, and that a hurricane destroyed it in 1921. The schoolhouse that stands there now, on U.S. 41, was built in 1927 and was recognized in 1993 as one of the county's first official landmarks. If storm water or debris reached your outdoor unit or air handler, leave the system off and have a licensed contractor look at it before it runs.

For a Pasco-side Lutz home, Pasco County Building Construction Services is the permit office. Its documents list the office at 8661 Citizens Drive, Suite 100, New Port Richey, with the phone number (727) 847-8126.

Pasco's process reaches further than the building code alone. The county says its plans review and inspections cover the building and trade disciplines of the Florida Building Code, and also zoning, site and fire components. Florida law, section 553.791 of the Florida Statutes, lets a property owner elect a private provider for plans review or inspections. Pasco County says it will still review and inspect anything the Florida Building Code does not regulate.

A repair that only swaps a failed part is a different job from replacing the outdoor unit or the air handler. Before a replacement, ask the county, or your contractor, whether the job needs a permit. If your address is on the Hillsborough County side, Hillsborough's list of work exempt from permits includes replacing a mechanical part when it does not alter its approval or make it unsafe. Hillsborough lists replacement or relocation of mechanical equipment among repairs that do require a permit.

ENERGY STAR says a contractor's check-up includes checking the refrigerant level, tightening electrical connections, measuring voltage and current on motors, and checking the system's controls. Blume has EPA Section 608 certified technicians, the federal credential for handling refrigerant.

You get a written, upfront price before any work starts. Where both make sense, repair and replacement are laid out side by side, and we do not sell equipment a building does not need.

When replacement is the answer, Blume sizes the system with an ACCA Manual J load calculation and Manual S equipment selection, instead of copying the old unit's size. New equipment is commissioned with measured static pressure, airflow and refrigerant charge. Financing is available through Synchrony Bank.

For the decision itself, see how to decide between AC repair and replacement. Nearby, we also have a page on AC repair in Land O' Lakes.

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, and our core service area is Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco counties.

What to have ready when you call

• Whether your address is in Pasco or Hillsborough County.
• Whether the whole house lost power or only the AC, and which electric company sends your bill.
• What the thermostat is set to and what it reads.
• Whether the outdoor unit and the indoor blower are running.
• Any ice, water in the pan, burning smell or unusual noise.
• Whether storm water or debris reached the equipment.