HVAC Repair in Salem, OR
If your system quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Marion County will get in touch.
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Ten months of heat a year wears the parts that light it
Your furnace in Salem runs from September through June. Winter nights average 33°F, so the burner is cycling on and off most days for ten months straight. Every one of those starts puts wear on the igniter and the parts that sense the flame. When one of those finally gives out, the furnace won't light and the house goes cold.
Summer afternoons here only average 76°F, so the air conditioner doesn't get pushed hard the way the furnace does. The bigger risk is losing power. Over the past ten years this area has seen six winter storms and two damaging wind events, and in 2024, 20% of Oregon households went at least 24 hours without power. Just over half the homes here heat with electricity, so when the power drops, the heat drops with it.
- 10 months
- September through June, your system heats
- 33°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 76°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
Oregon requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The Construction Contractors Board tests and records HVAC contractors before they can hold this license. It covers the contractor, not each individual job, so the same license applies whether the work is a full system install or a single repair call. Oregon does carve out one exception. Work under $1,000 does not need a licensed contractor.
For a repair on a heating and cooling system, that threshold is what decides whether a license applies. If the job runs $1,000 or more, the contractor doing the work should hold that CCB license. If it comes in under that amount, Oregon does not require one.
Source: Oregon Legislative Assembly
- Why is my heat not working?
- Start with the thermostat. Make sure it is set to heat and the temperature is set above room temperature, since a setting bumped a degree or two can look like a dead system. Check your breaker panel next, since a tripped breaker will shut the whole system down with no warning. If the thermostat and breaker are fine, listen for the furnace trying to start. A few clicks followed by silence usually means the igniter or flame sensor is failing. No sound at all can mean the blower motor or a safety switch is stopping it before it tries. With winter nights here averaging 33°F, a furnace that will not stay on is worth getting looked at the same day.
- Why is my system running but not cooling the house?
- Check the air filter first. A clogged filter blocks airflow across the coil, and the coil can ice over so the system runs but stops cooling. Check the outdoor unit too. If the coil outside is caked with dirt or leaves, or the fan is not spinning, the system cannot move heat out of the house. If the filter is clean and the outdoor unit looks fine, low refrigerant is a common cause, and that needs a contractor with gauges to check it. A system that runs constantly without cooling is also worth turning off until it is looked at, since ice on the coil only gets worse the longer it runs.
- What can I check before calling for HVAC repair?
- Check the thermostat settings, the batteries in it, and the breaker for the system before anything else. These cause more no-heat and no-cool calls than any actual part failure. Check the air filter next and replace it if it is gray or clogged, since a blocked filter can shut a furnace down or freeze an air conditioner's coil. Look at the outdoor unit if you have one and clear away any leaves, grass clippings or ice blocking it. If the system still is not working after that, a contractor will need to look at it directly and can price the job once they see what it needs. Oregon requires a license for HVAC work, and anything involving the furnace or the refrigerant side of the system is worth having a licensed contractor diagnose.