Emergency Heat Repair in Galveston, TX

Galveston cold snaps don't happen often, but when they do, they catch people off guard. The Gulf Coast doesn't get the sustained deep freezes that North Texas or the Hill Country deal with, so many island homes have heating systems that haven't been tested in months — or heating that was never designed for a real cold event. When a norther blows through and the temperature drops into the 30s with 25 mph wind off the water, a 40-degree reading feels like it's in the low 20s. That's when phones start ringing. Coastal Eco Heating & Air provides 24/7 emergency heat repair across Galveston Island, Texas City, League City, Dickinson, La Marque, and Santa Fe.

Why Galveston Heating Emergencies Are Different

Most of the country expects winter. Galveston doesn't. That changes everything about how heating emergencies play out here. Homeowners go nine or ten months without touching their thermostat. When the first real cold front hits — usually late November or December — systems that sat idle through a humid, salt-air summer are expected to fire up instantly. Many don't.

The Gulf wind chill factor is the other piece. Galveston sits on a barrier island with nothing between your home and the open Gulf. A 40-degree night with 20 mph sustained wind puts the wind chill around 30 degrees. Older island homes with single-pane windows, pier-and-beam foundations, and minimal insulation lose heat fast. Pipes in crawl spaces and exterior walls are at risk of freezing — especially on the bay side where wind exposure is worst.

What to Do When Your Heater Stops Working

First, check the obvious: thermostat set to heat, breaker not tripped, filter not completely clogged. These three things account for about 30% of emergency calls. If the system is getting power and the thermostat is calling for heat but nothing happens — no fan, no warm air, no sounds at all — you're dealing with a component failure that needs a technician.

If your heat pump is running but only blowing cool air, it may be stuck in cooling mode (a reversing valve issue) or the auxiliary heat strips aren't engaging. Electric furnaces that blow room-temperature air usually have a failed sequencer or burned-out heating element.

Call Coastal Eco at (409) 599-1948. We respond same-night for emergency heating calls. Our trucks carry the most common coastal failure parts — corroded relays, sequencers, capacitors, and control boards — because we know exactly what salt air does to heating systems that sit idle for nine months.

Frozen Pipe Prevention During Cold Snaps

When temperatures drop below freezing, island homes with pier-and-beam construction are at highest risk. Exposed pipes under the house and in exterior walls can freeze in hours. If your heating system fails during a freeze event, open cabinet doors under sinks, let faucets drip, and use safe supplemental heat while waiting for repair. Do not use propane heaters, charcoal, or ovens for heat — Galveston fire departments respond to carbon monoxide calls every cold snap.

The Coastal Corrosion Factor

Emergency heating failures on the island almost always trace back to corrosion. Relays and contactors develop salt deposits on their contact points. Sequencers — the components that stage electric heating elements on in sequence — corrode internally and fail to close. Control boards develop micro-corrosion on circuit traces. These are the parts that fail when you need heat the most, because they've been quietly degrading in humid salt air all year.

Coastal Eco stocks corrosion-resistant replacement parts and uses marine-grade electrical connections on all repairs. When we fix your system during an emergency, we're also building it to resist the next nine months of coastal exposure.

Don't Wait for the Emergency

The best way to avoid a midnight heating call is a $129 tune-up (reg. $225) in November, before the first cold front. We'll catch corroded components, test every heating stage, and verify your system is ready. But when emergencies happen, we're here — 24/7, across Galveston County. Call (409) 599-1948.