Fall & Winter HVAC Maintenance
Phoenix runs its HVAC backward. The air conditioner works for half the year and the furnace for a few weeks, and both spend long stretches idle. Here is how to keep each ready, at home and at work.
Phoenix runs its heating and cooling backward. The air conditioner works half the year, through heat that would retire equipment in gentler places. The furnace works a few weeks, then sleeps through a summer in a garage or an attic. Both spend long stretches idle, and idle is when the desert does its quiet damage.
Fall is the season for inspection: the air conditioner still carries the evidence of summer, and the furnace has not yet been asked to light. Winter is the season for protection and planning: heat pumps working hard, idle condensers attracting pack rats, and the replacement decisions nobody should make in July. The pages below take each one in turn, separately for homes and commercial buildings, with what a technician checks and what you can safely do yourself.
The Phoenix season window
Fall and winter in Phoenix, by the numbers
For homes
Air conditioners, furnaces and heat pumps in Phoenix houses, from the post-summer check to the coldest week of the year.
FallFall AC maintenance for Phoenix homes
The summer is over. The wear it left on your air conditioner is not. A fall check finds the damage while the weather is mild and the schedule is open.
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WinterWinter AC care for Phoenix homes
From December into February the condenser goes quiet and everyone forgets it exists. The desert does not. Here is how to make sure it starts in spring.
Read moreFallFall furnace tune-up for Phoenix homes
Your furnace has been asleep since spring. Before it lights a gas flame inside your home, someone qualified should look at it.
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WinterWinter furnace maintenance for Phoenix homes
A Phoenix winter is short. It is also the furnace's entire career. When it is working hardest, here is what to watch for and when to call.
Read moreFor commercial buildings
Rooftop units, gas heat sections, makeup air units and unit heaters, planned unit by unit around your tenants and your hours.
FallCommercial fall AC maintenance in Phoenix
Your rooftop units just carried the building through another Phoenix summer. Fall is when you find out what that cost them, before tenants find out for you.
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WinterCommercial winter AC care in Phoenix
Winter is when the rooftop goes quiet. It is also the only time of year you can work on cooling equipment without the building needing it.
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FallCommercial fall heating start-up in Phoenix
On the first cold morning, every tenant in the building reaches for the thermostat at once. The gas heat on the roof should be ready before they do.
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WinterCommercial winter heating maintenance in Phoenix
The heating season in Phoenix is short and concentrated. When the equipment is working hardest is when a quiet problem turns into a cold building.
Read moreFall & winter maintenance: common questions
Straight answers, no runaround. Don’t see yours? Our team is a phone call away, around the clock.
Fall service belongs in October and November: the air conditioner is fresh from summer, and the furnace has not yet been asked to work. Winter service is for heat pumps, heavy-use furnaces and anything acting up, and for planning replacements. The National Weather Service's normal low at Sky Harbor falls to 45.3 degrees in December.
If you have a gas furnace and an air conditioner, yes, and they fit in one visit. If a heat pump handles both heating and cooling, one visit covers it in both modes. See the fall AC check and the fall furnace tune-up.
Very. Commercial buildings usually rely on rooftop units with gas heat sections or heat pumps, plus makeup air units in restaurants and unit heaters in warehouses, and service is planned unit by unit. Start with commercial fall AC maintenance and commercial heating start-up.
Change filters, keep equipment clear of stored items and debris, test carbon monoxide alarms, and leave vents open. Anything involving gas, electrical panels or refrigerant belongs to a licensed technician.
Get ahead of the season
Book a fall check or a winter visit for your home or building, and let the desert do its worst to someone else's equipment.
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