Calls for AC repair in Friendswood, TX, often involve houses that are 40 or 50 years old, ductwork that has been through a remodel or two, and a power company that is not CenterPoint. This page covers what is different about keeping a Friendswood home cool and warm, and how a single call to the free line puts you in touch with a local contractor.
Houston Air & Heating answers calls; it does not send out technicians. Ring (832) 662-4107 and an automated assistant will ask a few short questions: heating or cooling, where you live, what the system is doing. Your call then goes to a locally owned contractor, independent of the line, that takes work in Friendswood. That contractor inspects, gives you a price and does the repair.
Friendswood: a Quaker colony that became a bedroom suburb
Two Quakers, Frank Brown and T. Hadley Lewis, settled the land in 1895 and named it in honor of the Society of Friends. Galveston County's museum calls it the only permanent Texas town that began as a Quaker colony. Farming, fig orchards in particular, carried the local economy for decades, and through the 1940s fewer than 500 people lived here.
Two events turned it into a suburb. Friendswood incorporated in 1960, and NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center, now Johnson Space Center, opened a few miles to the east in the early 1960s. NASA families moved in, farmland became subdivisions, and growth kept going through the 1970s and 1980s. The city sits mostly in Galveston County, with a part in Harris County. That history means many homes here are well past their first air conditioner.
Older homes, added rooms and tired ductwork
A house built in the 1960s or 1970s has usually changed shape. A garage turned into a game room, a sunroom off the back, a bigger primary suite: each change adds space the original system was never sized for. The added room is often the one that never quite cools, because it hangs off the end of a long duct run.
A bigger outdoor unit rarely fixes that. What a careful technician checks first is the airflow: whether the room has its own return path, whether the duct feeding it is the right size, and whether old flexible duct in the attic has sagged, torn or come loose at a joint. A separate ductless unit for the added space is another option worth pricing. In a home this age, ask whether the ducts are original before agreeing to replace equipment.
Clear Creek, Hurricane Harvey and flooded systems
In late August 2017, Hurricane Harvey's rain sent Clear Creek and its tributaries over their banks across Friendswood. Roughly 1,000 residents were rescued by boat, and city figures reported a few months later counted roughly 2,400 damaged homes. Since then the city and Galveston County have used federal disaster recovery grants to buy out flood-prone property, including a townhome complex on Frenchmans Creek.
Flooding touches more of an HVAC system than the outdoor unit. Water can reach an air handler in a garage or closet, ducts in low spots and the wiring that links it all together. If your home took on water, keep the system off until it has been inspected, and ask the technician to look at every part that was submerged. If you are replacing equipment in a flood-prone spot anyway, ask whether a raised platform for the condenser fits your lot.
Power out or AC out? Sorting it out in Friendswood
Friendswood is in TNMP's Gulf Coast territory rather than CenterPoint's, so the outage steps differ from much of the Houston area. Your bill confirms the delivery company for your address.
The whole house is dark
That is a utility problem. Report it to TNMP online with its Report Outage button or at 888-866-7456, option 1. Your retail electric provider does not fix lines.
Lights on, AC silent
Look at the panel. If the AC breaker has tripped, reset it one time. TNMP warns that reporting an outage that turns out to be inside the house can bring a fee.
Breaker trips again
Stop there and leave it off. Tripping twice usually means something in the equipment is shorting or overheating, a job for a technician, not a homeowner.
Gas heat, safety and the first cold front
Some Friendswood homes run a gas furnace tucked into an attic or closet, others with a heat pump or electric strips. If the house ever smells like gas, get everyone out on foot, leave switches alone, then phone 911 and the gas utility shown on your bill once you are well away from the house. If a carbon monoxide detector goes off, empty the house and call 911. Do not reopen the furnace or relight anything yourself; that belongs to a trained technician.
Safe checks before calling are short: thermostat set to Heat and above room temperature, fresh batteries if it has them, a clean filter, and a quick look at the breaker. If the furnace still will not start, read furnace repair and call.
Permits for a new system in Friendswood
The City of Friendswood publishes a list of every permit it issues each month. Residential system replacements, such as removing and replacing a furnace, coil and condenser, appear there as mechanical permits filed by the contractor. Before you sign, make sure the quote names who applies for the permit and that the city inspection is included.
- License number. Ask for the contractor's Texas ACR license and confirm it with TDLR.
- Ducts in the scope. In a 1970s house, find out whether the price covers duct repairs or only equipment.
- Matched parts. Ask whether the indoor coil is being replaced with the outdoor unit.
- Flood history. Tell the contractor if the home or the equipment has ever been in water.
Why Friendswood homeowners call the line
Old houses fail at odd hours
A worn system in a 1970s ranch house can quit on a Sunday evening. The line picks up at any hour and passes the call to a local contractor.
Galveston County or Harris County
Whichever side of the county line your street is on, one number covers it. Say your area when the assistant asks.
Nothing to pay the line
Calling is free. The contractor quotes its own price, and you pay that contractor, not the line.
Help checking the contractor
This site explains how to confirm a Texas ACR license through TDLR, which matters when a flood repair or a full replacement is on the table.
Friendswood heating and cooling services
For warm air, a frozen coil or a unit that will not start, see AC repair. Owners of older systems weighing a big repair bill should read repair or replace, then AC installation and replacement. For homes with gas heat, furnace repair matters once the weather turns, and a yearly tune-up is the time to have ducts and drains looked at. If the system is running but the house stays warm, try AC not cooling first.
AC Repair in Houston
Warm air, a unit that hums but will not start, ice on the lines or a tripped breaker. How a careful diagnosis works in Houston heat and what to ask before you approve a repair.
AC Installation and Replacement
Why a load calculation matters more than the brand, what a complete replacement quote lists, and permits in Houston.
Furnace Repair
Gas furnace not lighting, short cycling or smelling hot on the first cold front. Gas and carbon monoxide safety first, then what a technician checks.
HVAC Tune-Up and Maintenance
How often to service an AC and furnace on the Gulf Coast, when to book it, and the filter and drain habits that matter most in humid heat.
How a Friendswood call works
- Dial the numberAn automated assistant picks up (832) 662-4107 at any hour and asks what you need help with.
- Say what is wrongTell it whether the trouble is cooling or heating, where in the Houston area you are, and what the system is doing.
- Reach a local companyYour call is transferred to an independent, locally owned HVAC company, which gets a short summary of your problem before it answers.
- Work it out with themThat company inspects, quotes, repairs and bills you directly. If nobody can pick up, your name, number and problem are passed on for a call back.
About this line: Houston Air & Heating is a free phone line, not an HVAC contractor. It answers your call and connects you with an independent local heating and air conditioning company, which inspects, quotes and does the work, and which you pay directly. Companies may pay a referral fee. You never pay the line. Read how the line works.
Verify the license before work begins. Texas requires anyone contracting to do air conditioning, refrigeration or heating work to hold an Air Conditioning and Refrigeration (ACR) Contractor license from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR). Ask the company for its ACR license number, then confirm it on the TDLR license search (opens in a new tab). The line does not check this for you.
Areas near Friendswood
All the Houston-area cities the line serves: