AC and heating repair in Red Rock 78662

Red Rock covers the rural south of Bastrop County, with a slice reaching into Caldwell County. A third of its homes are manufactured homes, 81% heat with electricity, and almost none have piped gas. In the community itself, more than half the houses were built before 1980.

What the housing means here

Across the ZIP code the median home was built in 1993 and 30% predate 1980. That is a mix of older farmhouses, site-built houses from the 1980s and 1990s, and manufactured homes, which make up 34% of all housing.

Older site-built houses have usually had their systems replaced several times, and ductwork added piecemeal. Weak airflow to one end of the house is a common complaint, and it is often the duct rather than the AC.

Manufactured homes take a downflow closet unit or a package unit outside, ducts under the floor, and replacement equipment listed for manufactured homes. See manufactured home AC and heat.

Heat without a gas main

Only about 1% of homes in 78662 have piped gas. Heat is electric for 81%, usually an air handler with strips or a heat pump, and propane for 14%. On a freezing night, an electric system's weak point is the strips and their breaker; a propane system's is the ignition sequence and the tank.

The nearby NOAA station at Cedar Creek 5 S records about 38 nights a year at or below freezing, a few more than the Smithville station. On those nights a heat pump calls on its backup strips, and a failed strip shows up.

Distance and access

Many homes sit off FM roads and county roads, behind gates. Say how to reach the house, where the outdoor unit stands and, on a manufactured home, whether the skirting has an access panel. That shapes the appointment more here than in town.

What to say when you call

• Site-built or manufactured, and roughly how old
• Electric, heat pump or propane
• The symptom and the thermostat readings
• The drive, the gate and the unit's location

Questions from 78662

The house runs a window unit in one room and central air elsewhere. Common in older houses with additions. Mention it; it tells a technician the duct may not reach that room.

Is propane or a heat pump cheaper to run? That depends on propane and electric rates at the time; a contractor can compare equipment for your house, not prices on this page.