HVAC Repair in Newport, VT
If your system quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Orleans County will get in touch.
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Nine months of heat, and nights near zero
Newport homes need heat from September through May. That is nine months of the burner or heat pump cycling on and off, night after night. Winter lows here average 9°F, cold enough that a furnace runs long stretches just to hold the house steady, and every cycle puts wear on the igniter and the blower motor. When one of those parts finally gives out, it tends to happen on the coldest nights, because that is when the system works hardest.
More than half the homes in this area heat with fuel oil, so an oil furnace that will not fire or a burner that will not stay lit is a common call here. Winter storms are frequent too, with 37 recorded over the past ten years, and Vermont saw 21% of households lose power for at least a day in 2024. A furnace or boiler that depends on electricity to run its blower or ignition will not work during an outage, even if nothing is wrong with it.
- 9 months
- September through May, your system heats
- 9°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 74°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
Vermont has no state license for HVAC contractors.
There is no license and no registration behind the name on the truck. Vermont does not test HVAC contractors and does not keep any record of who is doing this work. Nothing about who can legally take this job stops at the state line here.
That means nothing stands between you and the contractor's own name and track record. No state board tested this person, and no state office has anything on file about them. Whatever confidence you have in the work has to come from the contractor directly, because Vermont has not set up anything to stand behind it.
Source: Vermont Department of Public Safety, Division of Fire Safety
- Why is my heat not working?
- Start with the thermostat and the power to the furnace before you assume the worst. Check that the thermostat is set to heat and above room temperature, and that the switch on the furnace itself is on. If you heat with fuel oil, check the tank. Over half the homes here run on oil, and a furnace that has simply run dry will act like it is broken when it just needs fuel. If power and fuel are fine and you still have no heat, a contractor will need to look at the ignition system or the blower.
- Why is my system running but not cooling the house?
- Check the air filter first. A filter clogged with dust blocks airflow across the coil, and without enough airflow the system cannot pull heat out of the air even though it keeps running. Check that all the vents in the house are open and not blocked by furniture or rugs. If the filter is clean and the air is still not cooling, the refrigerant charge or the coil itself needs a contractor to look at it.
- What can I check before calling for HVAC repair?
- Check the thermostat settings first, since a system set to the wrong mode or a dead thermostat battery looks exactly like a broken furnace or air conditioner. Check the power switch at the unit and the breaker at your panel. With 21 percent of Vermont households losing power for a day or more last year, a breaker that tripped during an outage and never got reset is a common reason a system stays dark. Check the air filter too, since a filter packed with dust can stop a working system from heating or cooling the house properly. If all of that checks out and the system still is not working, it is time to have a contractor look at it.