Heating and Cooling in Pontiac, MI

Heating and cooling for Pontiac's older housing

Pontiac's housing is older than that of Oakland County as a whole. By Census Bureau estimates about one home in five was built before 1940, compared with fewer than one in ten countywide. Nearly half were built before 1960. Around six in ten are detached single-family houses, and most of the rest are apartments, with some two-family and attached homes.

Maverick Heating and Cooling has been in business for 7 years and is still a family business with a crew of four. We show up on time, we explain what failed and what it will cost before any work starts, and the job is 100% satisfaction guaranteed. Call 248-930-2080. We also cover Auburn Hills and Waterford, with the full list on our service area page.

Pre-war houses, old ducts and old chimneys

Houses built before 1940 are usually heated one of two ways. Some have a furnace and ducts, and those ducts were often laid out for heat alone, long before air conditioning was part of the plan. Others are heated by a boiler and have no ducts at all, so air conditioning is added with a ductless mini-split or with new ductwork.

Old houses also have old vents and chimneys. The Consumer Product Safety Commission recommends a yearly professional inspection of fuel-burning appliances, including the chimney, flue and vent connections. It also recommends a carbon monoxide alarm on every level and outside each sleeping area. If an alarm sounds, get everyone outside into fresh air and call 911.

Two-family homes and rentals

About one Pontiac home in twenty is in a two-family house, and more than one in five is in an apartment building. A two-family house often has two furnaces and two water heaters, one for each unit, so there is twice as much to keep running. If you own one, a fall furnace tune-up on both systems lowers the odds of a no-heat call from a tenant in January. If you rent, your landlord is the one to call first.

Pontiac winters and Pontiac utilities

The weather stations at Pontiac record an average January low of about 17 degrees and an average July high of about 82. Heating demand here runs roughly nine to ten times cooling demand, so the heating system is the hardest-working equipment in the house.

More than eight in ten Pontiac homes heat with utility gas. Consumers Energy is the gas utility and DTE supplies the electricity. Consumers Energy scheduled about six miles of gas main replacement in Pontiac for 2026, part of a statewide program replacing cast iron and steel pipe. If you ever smell gas, leave the house, then call 911 and Consumers Energy from outside. The city is on Great Lakes Water Authority water, and private wells are not typical. Sediment still settles in a water heater tank over the years.