What HVAC Services Does Shavitz Heating and Air Conditioning Offer in Lakeview?
Shavitz Heating and Air Conditioning installs, repairs, and maintains furnaces, boilers, air conditioners, heat pumps, ductless systems, and indoor air quality equipment across Lakeview’s mix of high-rises, two-flats, and rowhouses. We’ve served the Chicago area since 1904, and our Carrier-certified technicians move between building types all day, not just the occasional single-family house. Call 847-861-5559 or request service online to schedule service.
Family-Owned & Operated Since 1904 | Carrier Factory Authorized Dealer & President’s Award Winner | NATE-Certified Technicians | 5.0★ Average Across 2,900+ Google Reviews
Air Conditioning Repair & Installation
A unit that won’t stop running, warm air where cold should be, or a system that won’t start at all is almost always something specific rather than a dead compressor. Our air conditioning technicians track down the actual cause first, repair what’s repairable, and when a system is undersized or worn out, we’ll say so plainly and install the right replacement.
Wrigleyville’s dense courtyard buildings and older rental conversions often have window units or aging split systems doing more work than they were built for, especially in units that were carved out of a larger apartment at some point without anyone resizing the cooling for the new layout.
Furnace Repair & Installation
Uneven heat, a system that short-cycles, or a furnace that won’t fire almost always comes down to one part: an igniter, a flame sensor, a pressure switch. Our furnace technicians find that part before recommending anything bigger, and when the furnace itself needs replacing, we size the new one for the space it’s heating.
Lakeview’s older greystones and two-flats, concentrated in the historic blocks west of Halsted, often carry furnaces installed for a floor plan that’s since been opened up or subdivided, which is a common reason a system that used to keep up suddenly doesn’t.
Boiler & Radiator Heat Service
Steam and hot water heat never fully left Lakeview, and in the neighborhood’s oldest buildings it’s still the standard rather than the exception. Our technicians handle boiler repairs, radiator work, and full system replacements regularly, with the same attention whether it’s a routine call or a full system rebuild.
The narrow rowhouses on Alta Vista Terrace, built in 1904 in imitation of London’s rowhouse blocks, are a good example of how compact and consistent Lakeview’s early construction could be, and homes from that era typically still run some form of their original hydronic heat.
Heat Pump Installation & Repair
A heat pump handles heating and cooling from one system, which is the appeal, though whether it can carry a Lakeview home through a full Chicago winter depends on the equipment and how well the building holds heat. Our technicians install, repair, and maintain heat pump systems and will lay out honestly whether a standard unit covers the space on its own or needs a furnace for backup during the coldest stretches.
Renovated buildings near Northalsted are increasingly landing on heat pumps as part of larger remodels, particularly where insulation and windows were already being upgraded as part of the same project.
Geothermal Heat Pump Services
Lower operating costs are what make a geothermal heat pump system worth the investment over time, but the loop field underneath it needs open ground that most city lots don’t have to spare. Our technicians will tell you plainly when a property doesn’t have the room, rather than sell a system that isn’t going to work.
The blocks closest to Graceland Cemetery on Lakeview’s western edge tend to have some of the neighborhood’s larger, deeper lots, which makes them worth evaluating individually even though geothermal remains the exception rather than the rule here.
Mini Split & Ductless Systems
A lot of Lakeview’s high-rise and vintage condo units were never built with central ductwork, running instead on aging PTAC units or window air conditioners that the building’s original design never expected to last this long. A ductless system replaces that setup with something quieter and more efficient, installed without touching the building’s shared systems.
Condo owners near Belmont Harbor in the high-rises along the lakefront are some of the most common callers for this exact upgrade, since a ductless system can go in during a unit renovation without requiring approval for changes to shared building infrastructure.
Indoor Air Quality Services
We start by evaluating what your unit or building’s existing indoor air quality equipment is already handling before recommending a new filter, purifier, or ventilation component. Sometimes that’s a repair or a filter change; other times it means equipment built for what’s in the air.
Units near the Lakefront Trail and AIDS Garden Chicago, just south of Belmont Harbor, deal with more lake-driven humidity than buildings further inland, and the right IAQ fix depends on whether that’s the actual issue or whether dust and ventilation are doing more of the damage.
Zone Control System Installation
A building where one floor runs hot and another stays cold, regardless of the thermostat setting, usually points to a zoning problem rather than equipment that’s too small. Installing a zone control system adds dampers and independent thermostats so each level runs at its own setting, and we handle repairs on existing zoned systems too.
Buildings near the Belmont transit hub that were deconverted from multi-unit rentals back into single-family homes are a common source of this call, since the heating and cooling that worked fine for separate apartments rarely divides evenly once it’s all one household.
Water Heater Repair & Replacement
A water heater typically gives some warning before it fails outright: slower recovery, inconsistent temperature, or a new noise it didn’t make before. We repair what’s fixable, and when replacement is the better move, we’ll go over whether a like-for-like swap or a switch to tankless fits your unit or building.
Condo buildings along Broadway with several units drawing hot water at similar times of day routinely push shared or in-unit tank systems harder than a comparable single-family home would, which is usually when tankless starts to make more sense.
Commercial HVAC Services
The Southport Corridor is one of Lakeview’s defining commercial strips, and the restaurants, boutiques, and the Music Box Theatre that anchor it need reliable heating and cooling just as much as any office building. We install, replace, and maintain commercial services equipment on a schedule that works around a business’s actual hours rather than ours.
A broken system during a Saturday rush or a packed evening screening costs a Southport business more than most owners plan for, so we prioritize getting commercial calls back up fast rather than working them into a routine queue.
HVAC Maintenance Plans
A maintenance visit does more than swap a filter. Electrical connections get tested, refrigerant charge and airflow get checked against spec, and the technician is looking specifically for the wear that turns into a real repair, or an early replacement, if nobody catches it for another season. Shavitz maintenance plans include two visits a year, plus discounts and priority scheduling.
Fall visits matter most for Lakeview’s older steam and hot water systems, which tend to show problems on the first real cold snap after sitting idle all summer, while spring checks catch AC issues before the heat sets in, whether that’s a high-rise unit near the lake or a two-flat further west.
Why Lakeview Residents Choose Shavitz Heating and Air Conditioning
Working on a high-rise condo’s PTAC replacement one call and a century-old rowhouse’s steam boiler the next is a normal week for us, not an unusual stretch. Bronson Shavitz, the current owner, represents the fourth generation of his family to run this company since 1904.
That history comes with credentials to match: Carrier Factory Authorized Dealer status, the Carrier President’s Award, and NATE-certified technicians. A 5.0-star average across nearly 2,900 Google reviews doesn’t happen by accident over four generations, it happens one job at a time.
Lakeview HVAC Questions, Answered
Do I need building approval, not just a city permit, to replace HVAC equipment in a Lakeview high-rise condo?
Usually both. Chicago doesn’t require a permit for an in-kind furnace, boiler, or AC swap in a residential building up to four stories, but most Lakeview high-rises are taller than that, which typically brings the work back under permit requirements. On top of that, condo associations almost always require board approval before any equipment tied to shared building systems gets touched. We can help sort out which approvals your specific building needs before work starts.
Can I replace an old PTAC unit in my Lakeview condo with something better?
Yes, and it’s one of the more common upgrades we do in the neighborhood’s older high-rises. A ductless mini-split typically runs quieter and more efficiently than a PTAC unit while fitting into roughly the same footprint, and since it doesn’t touch the building’s shared systems, it’s usually a more straightforward approval process than equipment tied to central building infrastructure.
Does Wrigley Field game-day traffic affect how fast you can get to a Wrigleyville home for a repair?
It can, particularly for afternoon calls on game days when street closures and crowds slow things down around the ballpark. We build that into scheduling when we know a game’s happening, and for anything urgent, we’ll be upfront about realistic timing rather than promise something the traffic won’t allow.
My home is one of the narrow rowhouses on Alta Vista Terrace. Does that limit my HVAC options?
Somewhat, mainly around equipment placement and ductwork routing given how tight the lots are. High-velocity small-duct systems and ductless equipment both work well in a footprint this narrow, since neither requires the kind of ductwork a full-size forced-air retrofit would need. Standard equipment can still work too, it just takes more careful planning around where everything goes.
I deconverted my two-flat back into a single-family home. Do I need to upgrade the HVAC to match?
Probably, at least eventually. Two separate heating and cooling systems built for two apartments rarely divide evenly once the building is one household, which usually shows up as one floor running hot while another stays cold. Zoning the existing systems is often a faster fix than replacing everything at once, and we can walk through which approach makes more sense for your layout.
Is geothermal realistic anywhere in Lakeview?
Rarely, and mostly on the larger lots near the neighborhood’s western edge close to Graceland Cemetery. Most Lakeview properties, especially anything east of the historic core, are too tightly built to fit a loop field. It’s worth asking about if your lot is unusually deep or wide for the area, but it isn’t something most Lakeview homeowners should plan around.
How do you handle scheduling and communication for a building where the HVAC decision involves a condo board, not just a homeowner?
We’re used to it. A repair or replacement in a shared building often needs sign-off from a board or property manager before work can start, and that adds a step a single-family job doesn’t have. We provide the documentation, spec sheets, and scheduling windows condo boards typically ask for upfront, rather than making you chase that information down after the fact.
Schedule HVAC Service in Lakeview
Whether it’s a PTAC replacement in a high-rise near Belmont Harbor or a steam boiler in a rowhouse on Alta Vista Terrace, Shavitz Heating and Air Conditioning handles what’s in front of us. Call 847-861-5559 or request service online to schedule your appointment today.