What HVAC Services Does Shavitz Heating and Air Conditioning Offer in Winnetka, IL?
Since 1904, Shavitz Heating and Air Conditioning has grown from a coal and ice delivery business into a full-service HVAC company serving Winnetka and the surrounding North Shore. Our Carrier-certified technicians handle installation, repair, and maintenance on furnaces, air conditioners, boilers, heat pumps, ductless systems, and indoor air quality equipment. Reach us at 847-861-5559 or request service online to get a technician out to your home.
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 struggling AC doesn’t always mean a new unit. Our air conditioning technicians start by finding out what’s wrong, whether that’s a refrigerant leak, a failing capacitor, or airflow problems from a dirty coil, and repair it when a repair is the right call. When a system is at the end of its life or was never sized right for the home, we’ll walk you through a proper replacement instead. Staying on top of maintenance is what keeps most systems out of that second category.
Homes near Tower Road Beach deal with more humidity off Lake Michigan than properties further inland, which changes how a system should be sized and how often it needs attention. A tune-up before the first real heat wave catches most problems before they turn into an emergency call.
Furnace Repair & Installation
Most furnace problems, uneven heat, short cycling, a system that won’t fire up at all, come down to one specific part: an igniter, a flame sensor, a pressure switch. Our technicians find that part before reaching for anything bigger. Replacement comes into play when the furnace itself, not a component, is what’s failing, and when that’s the case we size the new system correctly rather than matching the old one out of habit. Either way, regular maintenance is what keeps that call further off.
Hubbard Woods, one of Winnetka’s older established neighborhoods built up around its own Metra stop, still has plenty of homes running furnaces original or close to original to the house. A fall inspection before the first hard freeze is the easiest way to avoid a no-heat call in January in a house this age.
Boiler Repair & Installation
Plenty of Winnetka homeowners keep their boiler systems specifically because of the even heat and quiet operation forced air can’t quite match. Our technicians know hydronic systems and radiator heat well enough to work on them properly, not as an afterthought to furnace service. When a repair no longer makes sense and replacement is the better call, we explain the reasoning before we get anywhere near a price.
Homes near the Winnetka Community House, a Tudor Revival building completed in 1911, sit in some of the village’s oldest residential blocks, where hydronic heat was the standard when the houses went up. Understanding why they were designed a certain way lets us recommend upgrades that improve efficiency without tearing out something that’s still doing its job.
Heat Pump Installation & Repair
A heat pump handles heating and cooling from one system, which is the draw, but whether it can carry a Winnetka home through a real Chicago winter depends heavily on the equipment and how well the house is insulated. Our technicians install, repair, and maintain heat pump systems and will tell you plainly whether a standard system is enough on its own or whether it needs backup furnace heat to get through January.
Homeowners renovating near Crow Island School are increasingly landing on heat pumps instead of a separate furnace-and-AC setup, especially in homes where insulation and windows have already been updated as part of the same project.
Geothermal Heat Pump Services
A geothermal heat pump system pays for itself over time through lower operating costs, but the loop field it requires rules it out for plenty of properties before cost even enters the conversation. Before recommending installation, repair, or ongoing maintenance, our technicians look at lot size, yard access, and what’s already in the ground, rather than pitching it as a universal fix.
The larger estate lots around Indian Hill tend to have more of the yard space a geothermal loop needs than the tighter lots closer to the lake. For homeowners evaluating it, we’ll tell you plainly whether your property can support it before you spend money finding out the hard way.
Mini Split & Ductless Systems
Extending ductwork into a new addition or a converted attic isn’t always worth the cost or the disruption. A ductless system solves that problem directly, and for a space that only needs occasional heating or cooling, it’s often the more efficient option anyway. Our technicians handle new installs, fix or replace units that aren’t performing the way they should, and keep existing ductless equipment running with regular maintenance.
Homes near the West Elm shopping district are common candidates for this, since additions and finished attic spaces on older houses in that part of town often have no practical duct access at all.
Indoor Air Quality Services
Adding a new filter, purifier, or ventilation component isn’t the first move. We start by looking at what your home’s current indoor air quality setup is already handling and where it’s falling short. That might mean a straightforward repair or filter swap, or it might mean a new system altogether if the existing equipment simply isn’t built for what’s circulating through the house.
Homes closer to the old Skokie Marsh on Winnetka’s western edge tend to deal with more basement and crawlspace humidity than properties further from it, and the right IAQ fix depends on whether that’s what’s driving the complaint or whether it’s dust, pet dander, or ventilation instead.
Zone Control System Installation
If parts of the house never quite match what the thermostat says, that’s usually a zoning issue rather than a sign the system needs to be bigger. Installing a zone control system adds dampers and independent thermostats so each area runs at its own setting instead of fighting the rest of the house. We also handle repairs when components stick or fail and keep the whole setup maintained so it does what it was designed to do.
The larger, multi-level homes near New Trier High School often have finished basements, additions, or second-floor bedrooms that all want something different from the thermostat. Zoning solves that without forcing the whole system to work harder than it needs to.
Water Heater Repair & Replacement
A water heater rarely fails without warning, inconsistent temperature, slower recovery between uses, and unusual noise are the signs it’s struggling before it quits altogether. When it’s still fixable, we fix it; when replacement is the better move, we’ll lay out whether a like-for-like swap or a switch to tankless solves the problem your household is having.
Larger households near Elder Lane Beach routinely push a standard tank system to its limit during peak morning hours, which is usually when tankless starts to make more sense than another tank.
Commercial HVAC Services
Downtime almost always costs a business more than the repair itself, which is why our commercial services team is built to move fast and keeps the parts on hand that fail most often during peak season. Beyond emergency repairs, we handle new installations, full equipment replacements, and maintenance contracts designed to keep that emergency call from happening in the first place.
The shops and restaurants along Chestnut Street depend on reliable heating and cooling to keep customers and employees comfortable year-round.
HVAC Maintenance Plans
A maintenance visit covers a lot more ground than a filter change. Our technicians check electrical connections, confirm refrigerant charge and airflow, and look for the kind of small wear that becomes a bigger repair, or an earlier replacement, if it goes unaddressed for another season. Shavitz maintenance plans build in two visits a year, along with discounts and priority scheduling.
Spring cooling checks matter most for homes dealing with lakefront summer humidity, while a fall visit is what catches issues in the older housing stock near the Winnetka Golf Club before the first hard freeze.
Why Winnetka Homeowners Choose Shavitz Heating and Air Conditioning
Bronson Shavitz represents the fourth generation of his family to run this company, a business that’s been part of the North Shore community since 1904. That kind of history matters in a village like Winnetka, where a service call might mean an original boiler in a century-old home near the Community House one day and a newer high-efficiency system in a recently renovated one the next.
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 is the kind of track record that’s hard to fake over four generations.
Frequently Asked Winnetka HVAC Questions
My boiler in a lakefront Winnetka home lost heat during a cold snap. Is that usually the boiler itself or something else?
Often it’s not the boiler at all, it’s trapped air in the radiators or a circulator pump that’s stopped moving water through the system. Bleeding a radiator is a five-minute fix if that’s the cause; a failing circulator pump is a bigger job but still usually a repair, not a full boiler replacement. Our technicians check the whole system before assuming the boiler is what’s failing.
Does living close to Lake Michigan change what I need for indoor air quality compared to a home further inland in Winnetka?
It can. Homes right along the lakefront tend to run more humid, especially in summer, which is a different problem than the dust and pet dander issues that show up more in inland homes. A whole-home dehumidifier solves a humidity problem; it does nothing for allergens, and vice versa. Our technicians look at what’s in the air before recommending equipment.
What’s different about servicing HVAC in a large estate-style home near Indian Hill versus a smaller home closer to the lake?
Scale and zoning, mostly. Larger homes on bigger lots often run multiple systems or a zoned setup to handle square footage that a single unit can’t cover evenly, while a smaller lakefront home is more likely to be on one system doing double duty for humidity and temperature. Neither is more complicated to service correctly, but sizing a replacement wrong is a bigger, costlier mistake on the larger system.
Do I need a permit to replace or install HVAC equipment in Winnetka?
Yes, the Village of Winnetka requires a permit for new, additional, or replacement furnace and air conditioning systems. We handle that paperwork as part of installation jobs so it’s one less thing on your plate.
Is a geothermal system realistic for a typical Winnetka lot?
It comes down to yard space more than anything else. The estate-sized lots around Indian Hill generally have room for a loop field; the smaller, more tightly packed lots near the lake and downtown usually don’t. Our technicians can tell you plainly whether your specific property qualifies before you invest in a design.
How often should a boiler in an older Winnetka home get serviced?
Once a year, ideally in early fall before the heating season starts. Hydronic systems don’t need filter changes the way forced air does, but the circulator pump, expansion tank pressure, and bleed valves all drift out of spec over a year of running and are easy to miss if nobody’s looking. Skipping a season or two doesn’t usually cause an immediate failure, but it’s often what turns a small fix into a bigger one down the road.
What makes Shavitz Heating and Air Conditioning a fit for both Winnetka’s older housing stock and its newer construction?
Most HVAC companies lean one way or the other, comfortable with modern forced-air systems but out of practice on hydronic heat, or vice versa. Four generations in this business means our technicians have serviced both in the same week for decades, not picked one up recently to keep up with the market.
Schedule HVAC Service in Winnetka, IL
A century-old boiler near the Community House, a new heat pump near Crow Island School, commercial HVAC on Chestnut Street, Shavitz Heating and Air Conditioning covers all of it. We serve homeowners and businesses throughout Winnetka with heating, cooling, indoor air quality, and commercial HVAC services.
From emergency repairs to full replacements, the goal doesn’t change: honest advice and work done right. Call 847-861-5559 or request service online to schedule your appointment today.