HVAC Repair in Helena, MT
If your system quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Lewis and Clark County will get in touch.
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Ten months of heat a year wears a furnace out
Helena needs heat from September through June. That is ten months of the burner lighting and the blower running, with almost no stretch where the system gets to rest. Winter nights average 15°F, cold enough that the furnace cycles on and off many times a night to hold the house steady. Each start puts a load on the igniter, and igniters are the part most likely to fail from that kind of use. When one goes, the furnace won't light at all.
56.6% of homes here heat with gas, so a pilot light or ignition problem is a common reason for a cold house in the middle of winter. Lewis and Clark County has seen 77 winter storms and 151 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and storms like that knock out power. Across Montana, 18% of households lost power for at least 24 hours in 2024. A furnace with a standing pilot will relight on its own once power is back, but most modern furnaces need a thermostat and control board with power before they will run at all.
- 10 months
- September through June, your system heats
- 15°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 74°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
A new furnace and air conditioner would cut about $100 a year off heating and cooling for a typical Lewis and Clark County home.
Estimates for a typical Lewis and Clark County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Montana fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Repair makes sense when one part has failed.
Replacement makes sense when the furnace's heat exchanger is cracked, the air conditioner's compressor has failed, or repairs keep coming.
Montana requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
That license is held by the contractor, not issued for each job, so the state has already tested and recorded them before they get to your house. It does not cover every repair job in Montana, though. Work under $2,500 does not need a licensed contractor here.
A heating and cooling repair can land on either side of that line depending on the size of the job. Above it, the license is what stands behind the work, backed by the state's own testing and records. Below it, that state check is not in play.
Source: Montana Legislature
- 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, and check if the display is blank, which usually means dead batteries. If the thermostat looks fine, check your breaker panel for a tripped breaker, since a furnace that lost power mid-cycle will not restart on its own until power is reset. Gas furnaces also have a pilot light or an igniter, and if the pilot went out or the igniter failed, the furnace will run air but never produce heat. With winter lows here averaging 15°F, a furnace that stays down for long can let a house get cold fast, so this is worth calling in a contractor for if the basics do not fix it.
- Why is my system running but not cooling the house?
- Check your air filter first. A filter clogged with dust blocks airflow across the coil, and when air cannot move past it, the coil can freeze over and stop pulling heat out of the house at all. Next check the outdoor unit and clear away any leaves, grass clippings or debris sitting against it, since it needs open air flow to work. If the filter is clean and the outdoor unit is clear but the air coming out still is not cold, the system likely has a refrigerant leak or a failing compressor, and that calls for a contractor to diagnose.
- What can I check before calling for HVAC repair?
- Check the thermostat settings, the batteries in it, and the breaker panel first, since these cause a surprising number of no-heat and no-cool calls. Look at the air filter and replace it if it is visibly dirty, because restricted airflow is behind a lot of underperformance complaints. If the system uses gas, check whether the pilot light is lit or the shutoff valve is open. Montana requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license for this kind of work, and a contractor will look at the system in person and price the repair for your house.