AC and furnace repair or replacement in Bastrop, TX

Nobody can settle this from a web page, but the questions that settle it are the same on every visit. Knowing them lets you follow the technician's reasoning instead of taking a verdict on faith.

Hours, not just years. The Smithville station logs 124 days a year at 90°F or above. A compressor in Bastrop runs hard from May into October, so a system installed in 2010 has worked far more hours than its age suggests. Past roughly fifteen summers, a major failure is usually where the conversation turns to replacement.

Which part failed. A capacitor, a contactor, a fan motor, a heat strip sequencer or a float switch is a part, and parts get replaced on systems of any age. A compressor, a leaking indoor coil or a cracked heat exchanger is a large share of the machine, and on an older system that repair buys a season or two.

What it runs on. A system installed before 2010 may still be on R-22, which has not been produced or imported since 2020, so recharging it means reclaimed refrigerant. Systems from about 2010 to 2024 are on R-410A, still serviceable but made under a shrinking allowance. New equipment ships with R-454B or R-32, and neither can be put into a system built for R-410A.

How often it has been opened. Refrigerant is not used up. A system that has needed it topped up twice has a leak nobody has found, and a third top-up is not a repair.

"Tell me what failed, and what else on this system is the same age. If you recommend replacing it, tell me what size you would install and how you worked that out."

A contractor who answers both halves of that question in writing has given you something you can compare against a second opinion.

Nearly three homes in four here heat with electricity. In practice that is one of two setups. An air handler with electric heat strips, which many people call an electric furnace, paired with a central AC outside. Or a heat pump, which runs the same outdoor unit in reverse in winter and calls on heat strips when it cannot keep up.

The rest is gas: piped natural gas mostly inside the towns, propane from a tank on rural lots. A gas or propane furnace has an ignitor, a flame sensor and a flue, and its faults look nothing like an electric furnace's.

That is why the first question on the call is which one you have. "The heat is out" leads to a breaker and a heat strip sequencer on one system and to a flame sensor on another. If you are not sure, look for a flue pipe on the indoor unit, or a gas line with a shut-off valve running into it. Neither means electric.

In a great many single-story Central Texas houses the air handler or furnace sits in the attic, on a platform above the garage or the hallway, and the ductwork runs across the insulation beside it. On an August afternoon that attic is hotter than the yard, and the equipment, the ducts and the drain line all work in it.

The AC pulls water out of the air and drains it through a condensate line. When that line clogs, the water fills a pan under the unit. A float switch in the pan should shut the AC off before the pan overflows. When it does, the house warms up and nothing seems broken. When it does not, the first sign is a brown stain on the ceiling below.

Either way, mention the attic on the call. A technician needs a working light up there and a clear path from the hatch, and a contractor schedules an attic job differently in July.

Have this ready

• What the system is doing, in one plain sentence: runs but blows warm, outdoor unit silent, ice on the copper line, water through the ceiling, no heat at all.
• Which kind of system it is: central AC with an electric furnace, a heat pump, a gas furnace, a propane furnace, or a package unit outside a manufactured home.
• The install year or the age, if you know it. The data plate on the outdoor unit usually prints it, or the serial number encodes it.
• Where the indoor unit sits: attic, hall closet or garage. Attic units need a working attic light and a clear path to the hatch.
• Both thermostat numbers: what it is set to and what the house reads. "Set to 74°F, reading 86°F at 3 p.m." gives a dispatcher more than "it is hot".
• What has been tried already: a new filter, the breaker reset once, fresh thermostat batteries.
• The address with ZIP code, and anything that changes access: a locked gate, a dog in the yard, a long rural drive.

Ask these two before a visit is booked

• What the diagnostic visit costs, and whether that charge is credited toward the repair if the work goes ahead.
• Whether an evening, weekend or holiday visit is priced differently from a weekday one.

What it sounds like

"Central AC with an electric furnace in the attic, installed about 2011. The outdoor unit hums but the fan is not spinning. Set to 75°F, the house is reading 84°F. I'm in Bastrop, 78602, side gate is open. What is the diagnostic charge, and does it go toward the repair?"

"Heat pump, maybe twelve years old. The thermostat says auxiliary heat all day and the last electric bill doubled. I'm in Cedar Creek, 78612. What is the diagnostic charge?"

A like-for-like changeout, new outdoor unit, new indoor coil and air handler or furnace on the existing ductwork, usually takes one long day. In July the attic half of it is the slow half.

Size from the house, not from the old unit. Ask what the new system's size is based on. The answer should describe a load calculation of this house — windows, insulation, orientation, duct and return sizes — not the tonnage on the old data plate. An oversized AC cools fast and leaves the house clammy.

Indoor and outdoor parts must match. A new outdoor unit on an old indoor coil will not reach its rating, and with the new refrigerants the old coil cannot be reused anyway.

The attic work counts. A new secondary drain pan and float switch, a cleared condensate line, and duct connections sealed at the new unit. Ask whether they are in the quote.

Permit. The City of Bastrop requires a mechanical permit to replace a system inside the city limits, and the application carries the contractor's Texas license number. Bastrop County issues no building permits outside city limits. Inside town, ask who pulls the permit and when the inspection is.

Getting a second contractor to look at the same system before anything is signed is an ordinary step. It is far easier before a deposit than after one.

Texas licenses AC and heating contractors through the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. The license is called an Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractor License, and its number, holder and status are public.

Texas rules require a contractor to print that license number on its trucks, its proposals and its invoices, along with TDLR's contact details. Ask for the number and the name it is held under before the visit, and look it up yourself. Ask for a certificate of insurance the same way and read the dates on it. A blank field in a public record is a question to ask, not a finding.

TDLR license search

Reviews help most when you read what went wrong rather than the score. A missed appointment, a part replaced twice, a figure that changed after the work began: those tell you more than the average. This site publishes no reviews or ratings of its own and endorses no contractor.