HVAC Repair in Ketchikan, AK
If your system quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Ketchikan Gateway Borough will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Your heating system never really gets a break here
Ketchikan does not have a cooling season. Summer afternoons average 65°F, mild enough that a heating and cooling system's only job here is keeping the house warm. Winter nights average 33°F from December through February, and the furnace or boiler runs to some degree in every one of the twelve months.
Nearly half of homes here heat with fuel oil, and oil systems depend on a steady power supply to run the burner and controls. Ketchikan has logged 3 winter storms and 10 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and across Alaska, 21% of households went at least 24 hours without power in 2024. In a place where the furnace never really shuts off, losing power for a day means losing heat for a day too.
- 33°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 65°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
Alaska requires contractors to register with the state.
Source: Alaska Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development
- Why is my heat not working?
- Start with the thermostat. Make sure it is set to heat and set above the room temperature, since a bumped switch or dead battery is enough to shut the whole system down. If the thermostat looks right, check the breaker for the furnace and the power switch that looks like a light switch near the unit itself. Furnaces that burn fuel oil or gas also need to draft properly, so if you smell anything unusual or hear repeated clicking without ignition, turn the system off and have a contractor look at it before running it again.
- Why is my system running but not cooling the house?
- Most homes here do not run air conditioning, so if a system is blowing air but the house still feels warm, check first whether it is actually a cooling system or a fan running without the heat pump or AC engaged. If you do have cooling and it is running but not lowering the temperature, check the filter, since a clogged one chokes off airflow and stops the coil from pulling heat out of the air. If the filter is clean and the air coming out still is not cold, that points to something inside the unit, like a refrigerant leak or a failed compressor, and that needs a contractor to diagnose.
- What can I check before calling for HVAC repair?
- Check the thermostat settings, the batteries in it, and the breaker for the unit first. These three things cause a lot of no-heat calls and take a minute to rule out. Next, look at the filter and swap it if it is visibly dirty, since restricted airflow can shut a furnace down as a safety measure. If the unit runs on fuel oil, check the tank level too. After that, if the system still is not working, a contractor will need to look at the parts inside the cabinet, since those are not safe or safe to diagnose without training.