Heating repair and heat pump service in Tampa, FL.
Tampa heat gets ignored until the one cold week a year — then everybody calls at once. That's the pattern every fall: the first night it drops into the 50s, thousands of heaters kick on for the first time in eight months, and a good chunk of them don't. Heat strips that died in spring, thermostats that lost their heating calibration, gas furnaces with ignition issues nobody noticed.
Mendoza Heating and Air services heating across Tampa — heat pumps (the most common setup here), electric air handlers with heat strips, and gas furnaces. Whether yours won't kick on at all or it's running but the house won't warm up, we diagnose it properly instead of guessing.
The smart move is a fall check before the cold arrives — our $75 tune-up covers the heating side too, through November 30. The expensive move is waiting until the coldest night of the year.
Heating calls spike the moment the temperature drops — everyone discovers the problem on the same night. Calling early in the cold snap gets you the earliest window; waiting until evening puts you behind the wave. Same-day service is available, and we triage honestly: no heat with vulnerable people in the home jumps the line.
When we arrive, we test the full heating sequence — thermostat call, ignition or heat-strip engagement, blower, safeties — and find the actual failure point. Most heating repairs are electrical (sequencers, relays, ignitors, sensors) and finish in one visit with parts from the truck.
After hours, our emergency line rolls to an on-call tech. If your heat is out on a cold night, that's an emergency call — we treat it like one.
“Tampa heat gets ignored until the one cold week a year — then everybody calls at once. Get it checked in the fall and you’re not waiting in line.”
Tampa heating is simple equipment with a few classic failure modes. Here's what we see.
First thing we check: the thermostat. After eight months of cooling-only, thermostats lose calibration, lose their heating programming, or just have dead batteries. If the thermostat's fine, we move to the air handler — sequencers, relays, and heat-strip elements are the usual suspects. It's almost always electrical, and almost always fixable same-day.
On a heat pump, the electric heat strips are backup — they're supposed to assist, not do the whole job. If your bill doubles in January, the heat pump side probably isn't working and the strips are carrying the load alone. That's a heat pump problem disguised as a heating bill, and fixing the heat pump side drops the bill back down.
Dust on the heat strips burns off the first time they fire up — a brief smell is normal. But if it persists past 20-30 minutes, or you smell electrical burning (sharp, acrid) rather than dust, shut it off and call. Electrical smells mean something's actually overheating.
Usually ductwork or airflow balance, not the heater itself. Dampers, crushed flex runs, or a system that was designed for cooling airflow patterns that don't distribute heat evenly. We check the ducts before condemning the equipment — the heater's often doing its job fine.
For the Tampa homes with gas furnaces: hot-surface ignitors are a wear item — they crack, and then nothing lights. Flame sensors get coated and stop sensing. Both are quick fixes with parts on the truck. What we won't do is bypass safeties to "get you going" — that's how houses have very bad days.
Gas furnaces produce carbon monoxide, and a cracked heat exchanger can push it into your supply air. Symptoms of a problem: soot around the furnace, a yellow or flickering burner flame instead of blue, or CO detectors alarming. If your CO detector goes off, leave the house and call 911 first, us second. During every furnace visit we inspect the heat exchanger — and if it's cracked, the furnace is done, full stop. No repair, no patch, no "it'll hold another season." That's the one call where we won't negotiate, because the stakes aren't comfort, they're safety.
Heat pumps in Tampa get confused by mild days — 65 degrees outside, system short-cycling between modes. Often it's a thermostat setting (aux heat lockout temperature) rather than broken equipment. We dial in the settings for Tampa's climate instead of selling you parts you don't need.
The honest pricing part: most heating repairs are small electrical parts, and we price them that way. If your system's old enough that replacement makes more sense, we'll show you the math — including the $500-off installation deal — instead of stacking repairs on a dying unit.
Check the thermostat — mode set to HEAT, temperature set above room temp, fresh batteries. Then check the breaker. If both are fine and there's still nothing, call us — it's likely a sequencer, relay, or ignitor, all same-day fixes.
On a heat pump, sky-high winter bills usually mean the heat pump side isn't working and the electric backup strips are doing all the heating. That's 3x the cost. We diagnose which side failed — fixing the heat pump drops the bill back to normal.
A brief dusty smell on first use is normal — dust burning off the strips. But if it lasts more than 20-30 minutes, or smells sharp and electrical, shut the system off and call us. That's not dust.
Absolutely — Tampa barely tests a heat pump. They handle our 40s and 50s easily and efficiently. If yours struggles, something's wrong with it, not with the concept.
Yes — fall is the time. Our $75 tune-up (through Nov 30) tests the heating side specifically: strips, sequencers, ignition, safeties. Finding a dead heat strip in October is a tune-up; finding it on the coldest night of the year is an emergency call.
Most are same-visit — ignitors, sensors, sequencers, relays, and thermostats are all truck-stock parts. If a control board or motor needs ordering, we'll tell you the timeline upfront.
Yes — ignition systems, flame sensors, safeties, and controls. And we don't bypass safeties, ever. If a furnace has a cracked heat exchanger, we'll show you and talk replacement honestly.
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