Does the Furnace Need to Be On for AC to Work?
Yes. Central AC runs on the furnace's blower, filter and low-voltage power. What each part does in July, what to check at the furnace, and when to call.
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Central Minnesota Heating and Cooling repairs and replaces furnaces, ACs, heat pumps and boilers in Mendota Heights (Dakota County), about 9 miles from downtown Minneapolis.
Mendota Heights adopted a land use plan in 1959 meant to keep its neighborhoods semi-rural, and it still looks the part: wooded lots, three golf courses and bluffs above the meeting of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers.
Updated October 27, 2026 · By Eric Brown, owner, Central Minnesota Heating and Cooling

Around town: Oheyawahe (Pilot Knob) · Mendota Bridge · Rogers Lake · Mendota Heights Par 3 · Somerset Country Club. Neighborhoods: Friendly Hills
Book in Mendota HeightsMendota Heights was truck-farm and dairy country until its population jumped after World War II. The village incorporated in 1956 and became a city in 1974. The 1940s and 50s houses came first, and neighborhoods platted before 1985 often sit on lots below today's 15,000-square-foot minimum. In the Somerset area south of the country club, about 90 acres of large lots still run on private septic systems, which matters when a high-efficiency furnace needs somewhere to drain.
The 1980s and 90s building peak coincided with airport growth: operations at MSP more than doubled between 1972 and 1998. The Metropolitan Airports Commission bought out one neighborhood near Acacia Cemetery, other homes had their windows and insulation upgraded through the Part 150 sound insulation program, and newer subdivisions were built with extra sound insulation. Those houses hold heat well, but a tight house needs its combustion air and ventilation checked whenever an older furnace or water heater still draws air from the basement.
Age drives a lot of January calls in Mendota Heights. The city's biggest building decade was the 1980s, so a house from that boom may be on a second furnace installed around 2000, and once a furnace passes 20, a long cold snap is when inducers, heat exchangers and control boards tend to give out. On large wooded lots the furnace's PVC vents may exit toward a side or back yard nobody shovels; after a heavy snow, check that both pipes are clear before the furnace locks out.
Tree cover is the big variable in a Mendota Heights cooling load. A house under mature trees can need noticeably less tonnage than the same floor plan on an open lot, which is why a replacement should be sized from a Manual J rather than the old unit's label. The same trees drop seeds and leaves into condensers, so a rinse from the inside out after the spring seed drop is worth doing. Where a house steps down the rolling terrain, the walkout level stays cool and can feel damp.
Mendota Heights is all Xcel Energy for gas and electricity, so one utility sets the rules. Its Heating Equipment Rebates are for high-efficiency gas furnaces, its heat pump rebates and Residential Cooling Rebates cover the electric side, and Saver's Switch and AC Rewards are load programs for air conditioning. Programs change, so ask whether a rebate needs a registered contractor before you buy.
Rebate programs change every year; check the utility's current terms before you buy. Our guides: Xcel and CenterPoint rebates, heat pump rebates, what happened to the federal credits.
Central Minnesota Heating and Cooling, owned by Eric Brown and in business since 2009, serves Mendota Heights and nearby towns in Dakota County, about 9 miles from downtown Minneapolis. We're open 7 days, 7am–9pm, and no-heat calls get priority. Call 612-429-3465.
An HVAC service call in Mendota Heights is a flat $79 trip charge, waived when you approve the repair. You get a written price before any work. Installed prices are on our pricing page.
Into the house drain, so it ends up in the septic tank. A condensing furnace makes several gallons of mildly acidic water a day in cold weather, and the AC coil adds more in summer. We run it to a floor drain or a condensate pump and can add a neutralizer, a cartridge of limestone chips that raises the pH before the water reaches the system. Ask your septic service provider whether they want one.
Yes. The city worked with Xcel Energy's Partners in Energy program on an Energy Action Plan, and one of its steps for residents is a Home Energy Squad visit, where an energy expert assesses the house and can install LED bulbs, a programmable thermostat and weatherstripping. Income-qualified households get the visit free. Tightening the house first can shrink the heating load, and the Manual J for the new furnace will reflect it.
Somewhere with open air above it and a couple of feet of clearance on each side, clear of downspouts and, if possible, outside the drip line of a big tree. Shade on the unit makes only a small difference to its efficiency, while seeds and leaves packed into the coil make a large one. Keep it away from bedroom windows and the dryer vent, and on a slope, set the pad level on a compacted base.
Usually the ductwork, the refrigerant line set and the gas piping. The furnace and air conditioner have probably been replaced once, and if the current pair dates from around 2000, they're due for a close look. Original line sets were made for R-22 and may be reusable with a new system if they're the right size, flushed clean and pressure-tested. Ducts from that era more often need sealing than replacing.
Yes. Central AC runs on the furnace's blower, filter and low-voltage power. What each part does in July, what to check at the furnace, and when to call.
Read the guideMinnesota's state heat pump rebates still haven't launched. See what Xcel, CenterPoint and the co-ops offer in 2026 and the contractor rules to check.
Read the guideA geothermal heat pump runs $20,000–$50,000+ nationally. Why the loop drives Minnesota prices, MDH rules for drilled loops, and incentives that remain.
Read the guideBrands we service in Mendota Heights: Carrier · Trane · Lennox · Goodman · Rheem · Mitsubishi Electric · Daikin · American Standard · Navien · Weil-McLain · and every other major brand
Heat out in Mendota Heights? Call or send a request.