Your Hometown Furnace and Heating Repair Company
We’re based right here in Abbeville, at 119 S. John M. Hardy Drive. When your heater goes out on a cold January night, you’re not waiting for a crew to drive in from Lafayette or Baton Rouge. Our trucks are minutes away, and we’ve been handling furnace repair and heating repair in Vermilion Parish since 1956.
That kind of history matters. We’ve worked on gas furnaces in the older homes along Charity Street, heat pumps in the subdivisions off Veterans Memorial Drive, and everything in between. Our technicians know the equipment that’s common in Abbeville homes, the quirks of the local housing stock, and the usual suspects when a system stops heating.
This page covers heating repair specific to Abbeville. For how we troubleshoot gas and electric systems region-wide, see our main furnace repair service, and for the whole picture on home comfort in town, visit the Abbeville HVAC hub.
Common Heating Problems in Abbeville
Louisiana’s humid subtropical climate creates specific heating challenges that you won’t find in a textbook written for northern states.
Corrosion from humidity. Even during winter months, Abbeville’s relative humidity stays high. That moisture corrodes flame sensors, pilot assemblies, and electrical connections inside your furnace or air handler. A system that worked fine last March may refuse to ignite in December because a flame sensor corroded during the off-season.
Critter damage. Systems that sit idle for eight or nine months become attractive shelter for mice, lizards, and wasps. We’ve pulled mud dauber nests out of gas furnace exhaust vents, found mouse nests wrapped around blower motors, and cleared lizard remains from control boards. These aren’t unusual calls for us. They’re routine.
Dust-clogged burners. When your gas furnace finally fires up after sitting dormant since March, accumulated dust on the burners can cause delayed ignition (that “boom” when the furnace starts) or uneven flame patterns. Both are fixable, but delayed ignition especially shouldn’t be ignored because it stresses the heat exchanger.
Heat Pump Issues Worth Knowing About
Most Abbeville homes built in the last 30 years use heat pumps rather than gas furnaces. Heat pumps handle our mild winters well, but they have their own failure points (we cover these in depth on our heat pump repair page):
- Stuck reversing valve — This valve switches the system between cooling and heating mode. When it fails, you get cool air in winter. Replacing it is a moderate repair that our team handles regularly.
- Defrost board failure: Heat pumps periodically defrost their outdoor coil in cold weather. If the defrost control fails, ice builds up on the outdoor unit and heating output drops dramatically.
- Low refrigerant. A heat pump that’s low on charge can’t extract enough warmth from outdoor air. You’ll notice lukewarm air from the vents and the auxiliary heat strips running constantly, which drives up your electric bill.
When the Heat Exchanger Is the Problem
Heat exchangers are the most serious furnace component we inspect. A cracked heat exchanger can leak carbon monoxide into your home. In Abbeville, thermal cycling is a real concern for furnaces. Our winters swing between 30°F nights and 60°F afternoons. That repeated expansion and contraction stresses the metal over the years.
If your furnace is over 15 years old and we find a cracked heat exchanger, the repair cost often approaches the price of a new heating system. We’ll lay out both options and let you decide what makes sense for your situation.
We Know Vermilion Parish
As Abbeville’s hometown HVAC company, we also serve the surrounding communities of Erath, Kaplan, Delcambre, and Gueydan. Our familiarity with the homes and systems in this area means faster diagnosis and fewer return trips. When a hard freeze knocks out the heat after hours, our emergency HVAC repair in Abbeville crew is on call.
If your heater isn’t working, or you want it inspected before cold weather arrives, give F & R Air Conditioning a call at (337) 893-5646. We’re right down the road.