HVAC Service in Emmaus, PA
Heating and cooling in a borough where a quarter of homes heat by delivery
Half the houses in Emmaus are older than 1955, and 23.4 percent of the borough’s housing went up in the 1950s alone. Another 29.7 percent predates 1940, and 78 percent predates 1970. Two building eras stacked into one borough, asking for different work.
Unity Heating & Air Conditioning works out of Macungie, the next town over, so Emmaus is backyard work rather than a drive. Tyler Furbacher owns the company, walks the job and installs it himself.
Fuel is what sets Emmaus apart. Gas heats 34.9 percent of households, electricity 34.4 percent, fuel oil 23.9 percent. Counting propane, 25.7 percent of the borough heats with a fuel that arrives by truck.
A borough split three ways on heating fuel
A split this even changes the conversation. In most towns nearby, replacement means picking a gas furnace. In Emmaus it often means picking a fuel. The borough sits inside UGI’s territory, but territory is not a main on your street, and UGI’s no-cost service line extension reaches 150 feet from an existing main.
What decides the fuel question
- Whether a gas main reaches your block, and how long the run would be if it does not
- What the electrical service can carry, which sets whether a heat pump is a clean job or a panel job first
- Your real consumption in gallons, since that number drives every comparison
Leaving oil: the arithmetic, not the pitch
Two routes off oil come up constantly. A propane or natural gas system keeps the tank and the delivery model, and installs cleanly where a main is out of reach. A heat pump ends deliveries and moves the load onto the electric service. Neither is automatically cheaper. Start with the oil savings estimator, which works from gallons you actually burned.
Sizing settles the rest. Equipment here is selected against a winter design temperature near 8 F and roughly 5,800 heating degree days, so a heat pump chosen off square footage runs short on the coldest mornings. Plenty of households have reason to stay put, and oil furnaces and oil boilers get serviced either way.
The tank and the flue decide the rest of the job
On a conversion, these details cost more thought than the equipment selection.
- Tank location: basement, crawlspace, outside on a pad or underground. Each changes access and where equipment can sit.
- Age and condition of the tank and supply line, which decides whether oil heat runs through the changeover or comes out first.
- Whether the old boiler also made domestic hot water, since that load has to land somewhere.
- What stays on the chimney afterward. The flue is then oversized for whatever remains, usually the water heater, so a liner is likely.
1950s Capes and ranches, and the ducts they came with
The 1950s bulge left Emmaus full of Capes and ranches on ducts built to move warm air and nothing else. Warm air needs less airflow than cooled air, so a cooling coil raises static pressure and cuts delivery, and the upstairs stays warm whatever the thermostat reads. One central return in a hallway is the usual reason, and rebuilt or extended ductwork is often the real repair. Cooling is sized against the 91 F summer design temperature.
The older half of the borough is a different building. Emmaus was founded in 1759 as a closed Moravian community, and the Shelter House of 1734 is the oldest continuously occupied structure in the Lehigh Valley. Houses from that end of the stock rarely have a duct chase, so ductless mini splits cover cooling without opening plaster.
Frequently asked questions about HVAC work in Emmaus
Is there a gas main on my street?
Often not, and it surprises people. UGI’s service territory describes a region, not your block. UGI extends a service line at no cost within 150 feet of an existing main, and past that the cost lands on the homeowner. Confirm it before planning a conversion.
Will a heat pump hold the house in January?
It can, if it was chosen for the conditions. Systems here are sized to a winter design temperature near 8 F against about 5,800 heating degree days. That means capacity rated at low outdoor temperatures, a deliberate decision on backup heat, and a load calculation on the actual house.
My oil boiler works, but the house has no air conditioning.
Radiator heat and cooling are separate systems, so the boiler stays exactly as it is. Ductless heads handle one zone each and need only a small penetration per room. Where an attic or a stacked closet offers a path, a compact ducted unit can serve two or three rooms.
Does a furnace or air conditioning replacement need a permit here?
Yes. Emmaus Borough at 28 S. Fourth Street, (610) 967-1322, has a mechanical permit application, and Barry Isett & Associates performs the mechanical inspections. Pennsylvania moved to the 2021 IRC and 2021 IECC on January 1, 2026, so work is judged against that code now.
Book HVAC service in Emmaus
Call Unity Heating & Air Conditioning at (267) 644-9516 to get on the schedule, or send details through the contact page. Repairs, cleanings, installations and replacements run out of Macungie, minutes away. Emergency calls are taken at any hour.
