Heating Repair & Heat Strip Installation in Orlando
Most Orlando homes heat with the same system that cools them: a heat pump, or a straight-cool AC with electric heat strips in the air handler. Both sit unused for nine months and then get asked to work on the coldest night of the year. We service heat mode on every brand, install heat kits in air handlers that never had one, and test the whole thing with an amp clamp — not a hand over the vent.
$89 heating diagnostic — applied to your repair · Licensed FL #CAC1814992
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FL License #CAC1814992
Licensed, bonded & insured
90-Minute Arrival Guarantee
90 minutes or $100 off your repair
Locally owned
Orlando-based since 2013
30-day repair warranty
Every repair, in writing
Which one do you have?
Four ways Orlando homes make heat
Almost nobody here has a furnace. Knowing which of these you own tells you most of what you need to know about heating & heat strips, and it takes a minute to figure out.
Heat pump
Most common in homes built after 2000
The outdoor unit runs in reverse to pull heat from outside air. Efficient down to about 35–40°F, then the electric strips stage in as backup. Thermostat shows "Emergency heat" or "Aux".
Straight-cool AC + heat strips
Most common in homes built before 2000
The outdoor unit only cools. All heat comes from electric resistance coils (a "heat kit") mounted in the air handler. Simple and reliable, but the most expensive heat per hour.
AC with no heat at all
Older installs and budget changeouts
The air handler shipped with an empty heat-kit slot. Space heaters are doing the work. A 5–10 kW kit can usually be added in a single visit if the panel has capacity.
Gas furnace
Rare in Central Florida
Under one in ten Orlando homes. We service them, but if you are not sure you have one, you almost certainly do not — look for a gas line and a flue.
Know the symptoms
Signs you need heating & heat strips
What we actually see across Central Florida, and what it usually means.
Heat is on but the air is cool or cold
On a heat pump this is usually a stuck reversing valve, a failed defrost board, or a thermostat wired for the wrong O/B setting. On a straight-cool system with strips it means the strips are not energising — a blown fuse, a tripped second breaker on the air handler, or a burnt sequencer.
Burning smell the first time heat turns on
Dust that settled on the heat strips over summer is cooking off. That is normal for the first 20–30 minutes of the season. A smell that lasts longer, smells electrical rather than dusty, or trips the breaker is not normal — shut it off and call.
Thermostat says heating, nothing happens
Often a tripped float switch from a condensate back-up, a blown low-voltage fuse on the control board, or a heat strip breaker that tripped without you noticing. Many Florida air handlers have two breakers — one for the blower and one for the strips — and only one of them is labelled.
Outdoor unit is steaming or has frost on it
A heat pump in defrost mode steams — that is by design. Ice that builds up across the whole coil and never clears is not: the defrost board, sensor or reversing valve has failed and the unit is slowly freezing into a block.
"Emergency heat" or "Aux heat" is lit and the bill jumped
The heat pump has been bypassed and the house is being heated purely by electric strips, which cost roughly three times as much to run. Sometimes a thermostat got bumped. More often the heat pump itself has a fault the thermostat is quietly working around.
Never had heat, or the air handler has no heat kit
Common in older Orlando installs and in budget replacements where the kit was left out to hit a price. Most air handlers have a factory slot for a 5–15 kW heat kit. We size it to the unit and the electrical panel, install it, and pull the permit where the jurisdiction requires one.
What you get
What's included in heating & heat strips
No vague line items. This is the actual scope of work.
- Heat-mode test of the whole system, from thermostat call to warm air at the register
- Amp draw measured on every heat strip stage — the only way to know a strip is actually working
- Sequencer, relay and limit switch check on electric heat
- Reversing valve, defrost board and defrost sensor check on heat pumps
- Thermostat configuration verified for heat pump (O/B) or straight-cool with strips
- Breaker, fuse and wire sizing checked against the heat kit rating
- Emergency / auxiliary heat staging confirmed so you are not paying strip-heat prices all winter
- Flat-rate quote before any work starts — 30-day warranty on the repair, in writing
90-Minute Arrival Guarantee
If our technician doesn't arrive within 90 minutes of a confirmed emergency dispatch in our core service area, we take $100 off your repair.
Timed from the moment we confirm dispatch with you on the phone. Applies to emergency calls in our core Greater Orlando service area. The credit is applied to your invoice automatically — you don't have to ask for it.
Serving all of Greater Orlando
Heating & Heat Strips across 24 cities. The arrival guarantee applies throughout our 20 core coverage areas.
Published pricing
What heating work costs in Orlando
Typical flat-rate ranges from our own jobs. Every quote is written before work starts, and the diagnostic fee comes off the bill.
- Heating diagnostic
- $89
- Credited to the repair
- Tune-up incl. heat-mode test
- $99
- Any brand, cooling + heating
- Heat kit supplied & installed (5–10 kW)
- $450–$880
- 1.5–3 ton air handlers
- Heat kit supplied & installed (15 kW)
- $825–$1100
- 3.5–5 ton; panel work extra
- Sequencer / heat relay replacement
- $180–$350
- Most common strip-heat repair
- Heat-pump thermostat replacement
- $180–$450
- Configured for O/B and aux staging
- Defrost board or sensor
- $250–$550
- Heat pumps only
- Reversing valve
- $900–$1,800
- We will discuss replacement first
Ranges reflect typical jobs in Greater Orlando and include parts and labour. Electrical panel upgrades, new circuits and permit fees are itemised separately on your written quote.
Before you call
Test your heat in five minutes
Do this on a mild day, before the first cold front — the week it arrives is when every HVAC company in Orlando is fully booked.
- 1
Switch the thermostat to Heat
Set it five degrees above the room temperature so the system actually gets a call for heat.
- 2
Wait fifteen minutes
Heat pumps take a few minutes to reverse. A burning-dust smell for the first half hour is normal on the first run of the season.
- 3
Feel the air at a register
Heat pump air feels mildly warm, around 90–100°F. Strip heat feels hot. Cold or room-temperature air after 15 minutes is a fault.
- 4
Look at the outdoor unit
On a heat pump it should be running. Steam is fine; a solid sheet of ice is not. On a straight-cool system it should be off.
- 5
Check the breakers
Look for a second breaker for the air handler heat strips — often 30–60 A. If it is tripped, reset it once. If it trips again, stop and call.
FAQ
Heating & Heat Strips — your questions
What Orlando homeowners ask us about heating & heat strips.
Probably, in one of two ways. A heat pump reverses its refrigerant flow to pull heat from outside air — the outdoor unit runs in winter too. A straight-cool system heats only with electric resistance strips inside the air handler. If your thermostat has an "emergency heat" or "aux heat" setting you have a heat pump; if not, you most likely have strips or nothing. We can tell you in about a minute on the phone from the model number on the air handler.
Supplying and installing an electric heat kit in an existing air handler typically runs $450–$1100 depending on the kilowatt rating (5 kW for a 1.5–2 ton system up to 15 kW for 4–5 ton). If the panel needs a larger breaker or a new circuit that is quoted separately. You get a flat-rate price before we start.
Three usual causes. It is in a defrost cycle, which lasts a few minutes and is normal. The reversing valve is stuck in cooling, which needs a technician. Or the outdoor temperature has dropped to where the heat pump alone cannot keep up and the auxiliary strips should be staging on but are not. A quick way to tell: if the outdoor unit is running and the indoor air is lukewarm rather than cold, it is usually capacity, not a fault.
The heat pump, by a wide margin — typically about a third of the cost per unit of heat, because it moves heat instead of generating it. Strips exist as the backup for the handful of nights that drop below the point where a heat pump keeps up, and to warm the air during defrost. If your system is running on strips alone all winter, something is wrong and it is costing you.
In most Central Florida jurisdictions, yes — it is a change to the electrical load on the air handler circuit. We pull it and coordinate the inspection as part of the job. A contractor who offers to skip it is asking you to carry the risk on your homeowner policy.
Yes, on a mild day in October or November. Switch the thermostat to heat, set it five degrees above room temperature, and give it 15 minutes. Expect a brief burning-dust smell. If nothing warm comes out, or a breaker trips, book a diagnostic before the first front arrives — that week is when every company in Orlando is booked solid. Our $99 tune-up includes a full heat-mode test.
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Ready to book heating & heat strips?
If our technician doesn't arrive within 90 minutes of a confirmed emergency dispatch in our core service area, we take $100 off your repair. Licensed FL #CAC1814992 — and a real person answers, day or night.