HVAC Repair in Terre Haute, IN
Homes here need heat from October through April and cooling from May through September. If your system quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Vigo County will get in touch.
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Vigo County runs its heating and cooling systems almost year round
Your furnace works October through April here, and your air conditioner takes over for May through September. That leaves almost no month where the system gets to sit idle. Winter nights average 23°F, cold enough that the burner cycles on and off for hours at a stretch, and each start puts a little more wear on the igniter. Summer afternoons average 85°F, which keeps the compressor running long stretches to hold the house steady.
Almost half of homes here heat with electricity, so a heat pump or electric furnace carries that load through the coldest nights. Vigo County has seen 49 damaging wind events and 5 winter storms over the past ten years, and statewide, 17% of households lost power for a full day or more in 2024. When the power drops, the system stops cold no matter what condition it was in, and it needs to pick back up correctly once the power returns.
- 7 months
- October through April, your system heats
- 5 months
- May through September, it cools
- 23°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 85°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
In Indiana, HVAC licensing for homes is left to the counties and cities.
Vigo County and the city of Terre Haute set whatever contractor rules apply here, and Indiana keeps no state license or record behind them. Whether that means a local license or nothing at all depends on the office that covers the address, not on any statewide standard.
For a repair job like this one, that leaves no state license standing behind the work. On the gas side, a bad connection is the dangerous part of the job, and whether that gets checked comes down to whatever Vigo County or Terre Haute require, since no state agency is checking it here. Indiana leaves that answer to the local office, not to a statewide rule.
Sources: Indiana Department of Workforce Development · State of Indiana
- Why is my heat not working?
- Start with the thermostat. Make sure it is set to heat and set above the room temperature, since a setting bumped down by accident is more common than it sounds. Next check the breaker box, because a tripped breaker will shut a furnace down with no warning at all. If those are fine, listen for the furnace trying to start. A few clicks followed by silence usually points to the igniter, and a furnace that never attempts to start at all often means no power is reaching it. With winter nights here dropping to 23°F on average, a furnace that will not hold heat needs a contractor out soon rather than waited out.
- Why is my system running but not cooling the house?
- Check the air filter first. A filter clogged with dust blocks the airflow the system needs to cool, and it is the most common reason a system runs constantly without the house getting any cooler. Next look at the outdoor unit and clear away any grass clippings, leaves or dirt built up against it. If the filter is clean and the outdoor unit is clear, the system may be low on refrigerant, and that is not something to add yourself. A contractor can check the charge and find where it is leaking from.
- What can I check before calling for HVAC repair?
- Check the thermostat batteries and settings, since a dead battery or a setting changed by mistake causes more no-heat and no-cool calls than any actual mechanical failure. Check the breaker box for anything tripped. Check the air filter and replace it if you cannot see light through it. For a furnace, check that the vent hood outside is not blocked by anything, and for an outdoor AC unit, clear away debris so air can move through it freely. If you have been through all of that and the system still is not doing its job, a contractor will need to look at what is actually wrong inside it.