HVAC Service in Allentown, PA
Heating, cooling and ductwork in a city where the median home was built in 1952
The median Allentown house was built in 1952, and 37.9 percent of the city’s housing went up before 1940. Eight in ten homes here predate 1970. Those numbers shape most of the heating and cooling work in the city. Equipment that drops into a new township build is rarely a straight swap in Center City or the West End.
Unity Heating & Air Conditioning is owner-run out of Macungie. Tyler Furbacher does the estimate and the installation, which matters on retrofit work, where the plan changes once the basement ceiling is open.
Most Allentown work is not an equipment swap. It is fitting modern equipment into a house that was never built around it.
What Allentown’s housing stock asks of a system
Heating fuel here splits roughly 44 percent utility gas, 40 percent electricity and 14 percent fuel oil, so about one household in seven still burns oil. Allentown also holds several distinct kinds of house, and each struggles in its own way.
How the neighborhoods differ
- Center City and the Wards: Victorian rowhouses and twins on narrow lots, sharing party walls, usually with no duct chase anywhere in the building.
- West End: 1920s to 1940s singles converted off gravity heat, with third floors that never keep up in either season.
- East Side and South Side: 1940s to 1960s singles and twins on ducts sized for a furnace, not for a cooling coil.
- Old Allentown, Old Fairgrounds and West Park are historic districts, so settle where an outdoor unit can sit before equipment is ordered.
Cooling a house with no ducts, or the wrong ducts
A 1950s duct system was built to move hot air, and hot air needs less of it. Add a cooling coil and static pressure climbs, airflow drops, and the second floor stays warm whatever the thermostat reads. Sometimes the fix is rebuilt or extended ductwork. In a rowhouse with no chase, ductless mini splits are the realistic route, and a compact air handler in a knee wall can cover a finished third floor.
What gets checked before we quote cooling
- The return path, since houses of this era usually have one central return and nothing pulling air back from upstairs
- Static pressure measured on the running system, not estimated from duct sizes on paper
- A room-by-room load calculation against the 91 F summer design temperature this region sizes to
Oil, gas and what happens to the chimney
Allentown sits inside UGI’s gas territory, but territory is not the same as a main on your street, and UGI’s no-cost service line extension reaches only 150 feet from an existing main. Confirm that before planning a conversion. The oil savings estimator works from your own consumption, and we keep servicing oil furnaces and oil boilers for households staying on oil.
The flue is the part people miss. When a high-efficiency gas or propane system vents through a sidewall in PVC, the chimney it leaves behind is oversized for whatever is still attached, usually the water heater. A liner belongs in the quote, not in a surprise on installation day.
The electric-heat problem, and where heat pumps fit
Close to 40 percent of Allentown households heat with electricity, much of it baseboard and wall resistance heat in rental and converted stock. That is the most expensive way to get through 5,800 heating degree days, which makes those buildings the strongest candidates in the city for heat pumps and ductless systems.
Sizing decides whether it works. Equipment here is selected against a winter design temperature near 8 F, so a heat pump chosen off square footage will short cycle or run short on the coldest mornings. PPL Electric currently lists rebates for heat pumps, central air conditioning and smart thermostats; terms change, so check the program before you buy.
Frequently asked questions about HVAC work in Allentown
Can I get air conditioning in a Center City rowhouse with no ductwork?
Usually yes, though rarely with conventional ducts. Where there is no chase in the building, ductless heads mounted one per zone are the normal answer. Where a stacked closet or knee wall exists, a small ducted unit can serve two or three rooms through short runs. Your layout decides it.
My oil furnace is at the end of its life. Gas or a heat pump?
It comes down to three things: whether a gas main actually reaches your street, what condition the chimney is in, and what your electrical service can carry. Oil is still 14.1 percent of Allentown heating, so the question comes up constantly. We price both paths against your real fuel use.
Do I need a permit to replace a furnace or add air conditioning?
Mechanical work in the city goes through the Allentown Bureau of Building Standards and Safety at (610) 437-7591. Pennsylvania moved to the 2021 IRC and 2021 IECC on January 1, 2026, so installation details are judged against that code now, not the one your last system went in under.
Book HVAC service in Allentown
Call Unity Heating & Air Conditioning at (267) 644-9516 to get on the schedule, or send the details through the contact page. Repairs, maintenance, new installations and full system replacements run out of Macungie. Emergency calls are booked around the clock.
