Heating Repair in Largo, FL

The answer changes what a failure means. Most homes here have one of these.

A heat pump. The outdoor unit runs in winter as well as summer. It is the same machine as the air conditioner, working in reverse to bring heat indoors. Most also have electric backup heat inside the air handler.

Straight cooling with electric heat strips. The outdoor unit only cools. All the heat comes from electric elements in the indoor air handler, so in heating mode the outdoor unit stays off, and that is normal.

A manufactured-home system. Largo has many manufactured-home communities, and those homes often have a package unit outside or an electric furnace cabinet in a closet, with ducts under the floor.

A gas furnace. These are uncommon in Largo. If your home has one, say so when you call.

A quick test: set the thermostat to Heat and go outside after a few minutes. If the outdoor unit is running, you have a heat pump. If it is silent and warm air is coming from the vents, you have electric strip heat.

No tools, no panels off. Stop at anything that feels unsafe.

1. Thermostat mode. Set to Heat, with the set temperature above the room temperature. After months on Cool it is the most common miss. "Emergency heat" or "Em Heat" is a separate setting, covered below.
2. Thermostat batteries. A blank or dim display after a long season means replace them.
3. Breakers. Electric heat usually has its own breaker or pair of breakers, separate from the outdoor unit, and it can be off without affecting summer cooling. Reset a tripped breaker once. If it trips again, leave it off and call.
4. Filter. Electric heat needs full airflow. A clogged filter makes the elements overheat and shut themselves off on a safety limit, which looks like heat that starts and then stops.
5. Vents. Open the supply registers and clear the returns.
6. Give it a few minutes. A heat pump delivers air that is warm, not hot, and takes longer to raise the temperature than strip heat does.

Do not open the air handler's electrical compartment. Heat strips draw heavy current, and the wiring to them is not a place for a homeowner's hands.

These are the usual causes for each complaint. A diagnosis confirms which one applies.

A burning smell when the heat first comes on

Dust settles on the heating elements over the long cooling season and burns off the first time they glow. A dusty smell that fades within the first hour or so of use is common. A smell that is sharp, electrical or like melting plastic, that comes with smoke, or that does not fade is different. Turn the system off at the breaker and call.

The system runs but the air is cool

On a heat pump, this can be a reversing valve that has stuck in cooling, a low refrigerant charge, or an outdoor coil that has iced over because its defrost control failed. On a strip-heat system, it usually means the elements are not energizing: a tripped breaker, a failed sequencer or relay, an open safety limit or a burned element.

Heat that starts, stops and starts again

Electric elements shut off on a high-temperature limit when too little air moves across them. A dirty filter, a blocked return or a weak blower motor is the usual reason.

The outdoor unit is covered in frost

A light coat of frost on a heat pump on a cold, damp morning is normal, and the unit clears it with a defrost cycle. You may see steam and hear a whoosh when it does. A coil that stays iced solid is a fault, and running it that way can damage it.

The breaker trips when the heat comes on

Leave it off. Heat strips are among the largest electrical loads in the house, and a breaker that trips under that load is reporting a problem in the elements, the wiring or the breaker itself.

The power bill jumps in a cold week

A heat pump that has stopped heating properly falls back on its electric strips, which use far more power to do the same job. A sudden rise in the bill with the house still warm is often the first sign that the heat pump side has a problem.

On a heat pump thermostat, Emergency Heat switches the heat pump off and runs the electric backup strips alone. It exists so a home has heat while the heat pump is out of service.

It is safe to use for a cold night while you wait for a repair. It is not meant for everyday use, because it costs much more to run. If the house only stays warm on Emergency Heat, the heat pump needs a diagnosis. Our heat pump repair page for Largo covers that side in more detail.

A diagnosis ends with one named cause and the readings behind it.

• Controls: the thermostat's heat call, control voltage, and the sequencers or relays that bring the elements on in stages.
• Heat strips: the current each element draws, compared with its rating, and the condition of the safety limits and wiring connections.
• Airflow: blower operation, the temperature rise across the air handler, and static pressure in the ducts.
• Heat pump operation: refrigerant pressures and temperatures in heating mode, the reversing valve, and the defrost control and its sensor.
• Electrical supply: the breakers and connections that feed the heat, which carry a heavy load.

Refrigerant work is done by EPA Section 608 certified technicians, the federal refrigerant-handling credential. You get a written, upfront price before any work starts.

These points follow from Largo's housing, not from statistics on our service calls.

Mid-century block homes. Many have been through more than one equipment change. The heating side may be older than the cooling side, or wired to a breaker that was resized at some point. Ducts in the attic lose heat in winter the same way they lose cooling in summer, so a room that is always warm in July is often always cool in January.

Manufactured homes. Heating equipment has to be the kind listed for manufactured-home use, and the ducts run under the floor. Cold floors, one room with no warm air, or a system that runs without catching up can come from a duct that has come apart beneath the home.

Condos. The air handler is often in a closet, and the heat strips share that small space with the filter and the drain. A filter that is hard to reach is a filter that gets left, and restricted airflow is the most common reason strip heat cuts out.

With so few cold days, it is tempting to leave a heating fault until next year. Three reasons not to: a heat pump that will not heat often has a refrigerant or control fault that also affects cooling; a breaker that trips under heat load is an electrical problem whatever the season; and a system left on Emergency Heat costs more every cold night.

One failed part is a repair. If the diagnosis finds a larger failure on older equipment, Blume shows the repair and the replacement side by side and does not sell equipment a building does not need. Replacement equipment is sized with an ACCA Manual J load calculation and Manual S selection, and financing is available through Synchrony Bank. See also AC repair in Largo.

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 the outdoor unit runs when the thermostat is set to Heat.
• What the thermostat is set to, what it reads, and whether it has an Emergency Heat setting.
• Whether a breaker has tripped.
• Any burning smell, and whether it faded or stayed.
• Whether the home is a house, a manufactured home or a condo.
• When the heat last worked.