Heating and Cooling in Franklin County, MO

Heating and cooling in Franklin County, MO is mostly electric, rural and spread out. The Census Bureau's 2020-2024 American Community Survey counts 46,312 housing units in 931 square miles, and 68 percent of occupied homes heat with electricity. Kenan Corporation drives about 1 hour 40 minutes from our base near Spanish Lake to Union, the county seat, in normal traffic. That is among the longest trips we make, so every Franklin County job starts with a call about the equipment, the road and the access.

Electric, propane and wood: what the heating mix means for repairs

The ACS shows heating fuel across the county: 29,098 homes on electricity, 6,512 on utility gas, 4,667 on propane, 1,766 on wood and 481 on fuel oil. Median build year is 1984, 76 percent of units are detached houses, and 9 percent, about 4,160, are manufactured homes.

Each fuel gets its own repair path. A heat pump has a defrost board, a reversing valve and a contactor. An electric furnace has strips and sequencers. A propane furnace has a tank, a regulator and an orifice sized for LP gas, and a gas smell means leaving the house and calling 911 first. Wood adds a stove, a flue and, in some houses, a furnace behind it. Our polar vortex prep guide covers the cold-week checks that apply to all of them.

Jobs on farms, shops and rural lots

Five kinds of work come up most outside the towns.

Farmhouses, 1980s ranches and the sizing question

Franklin County grew from 80,603 residents in 1990 to 104,682 in 2020, according to census figures, and the median home dates to 1984. A house that old is now on its second or third furnace. About 4,600 homes, 10 percent, date to 1939 or earlier.

A farmhouse that has been added onto, a porch closed in or a shop attached is not the house the old furnace was sized for. A load calculation before replacement is how the equipment gets matched to the rooms that exist now. Ask any contractor to show the numbers, including us.

Building permits, cities and what to ask first

Franklin County's Building Department at 400 East Locust in Union, 636-583-6384, issues permits and inspects new construction in unincorporated areas. Its posted code list includes the 2021 International Mechanical Code with a county amendment, but it does not post an HVAC contractor license, so call before work starts. Washington, Union, Pacific and the other cities may run their own offices, so confirm which one covers your address.

With no statewide HVAC license in Missouri, the license a contractor needs depends on the address. Ask any contractor, including us, which one applies in Franklin County, and look for the permit holder's name in the quote.

Gray Summit, Villa Ridge, Pacific and Sullivan: which office applies

Villa Ridge, Gray Summit, Stanton and Lake St. Clair are census-designated places, not cities, so no city building office covers them and the county Building Department is the one to ask. Pacific has a small part in St. Louis County, and Sullivan lies only partly in Franklin County, so a permit there can fall under a different county's rules.

The county's permit packet includes an Electrical and Mechanical Spec Sheet, and its code list names the 2021 International Mechanical Code with a county amendment. The page describes permits for new construction, not a furnace swap in an existing house, so call 636-583-6384 before assuming either way.

What the call looks like from 100 minutes away

Tell us the address, the road and gate access, the equipment type and the fuel. Diagnosis comes before parts, the explanation is in plain words, and a clear, upfront quote arrives before work starts. We offer same-day service when the schedule allows, and when it does not, we say so on the call.

Shops, tasting rooms and other small commercial buildings

Manufacturing employs about 23.8 percent of Franklin County workers, mostly in Washington and Union, and the Hermann wine region, designated in 1983, reaches vineyards near Berger and New Haven. Those shops, plants and tasting rooms are light commercial buildings. Their split systems and packaged units get a diagnosis first, and a clear, upfront quote follows before any parts are ordered.

Rivers, I-44 and the utilities behind the meter

The county is Ozark terrain with caves, springs and sinkholes, with the Missouri River on its north edge and I-44 as its growth corridor. Ameren Missouri, Crawford Electric Cooperative and Three Rivers Electric Cooperative all serve parts of the county, so check your bill. We list a page for Washington. See heat pump repair and ductless mini splits.