A library for houses that flood, rust and were built before ductwork
Two shelves here. One holds the eight problems behind most of our St. Johns County calls. The other holds guides written for situations a national HVAC site has never heard of.
Eight symptoms, diagnosed for this town
Each problem page opens with a short table: what you’re noticing, what it usually turns out to be in a St. Augustine house, what the fix tends to involve and how urgent it is. Warm air from the vents, ice on the lines, a system that cycles every few minutes, a sticky house, an FPL bill that jumped, a new noise, water around the air handler or on a ceiling, a breaker that trips. Those are the calls that come from Davis Shores to Palencia all summer long, and the pages are written from what our technicians actually find when they get there, including the local twists: pollen-choked coils every March, salt-eaten contactors on the island, scaled drain lines on well water out toward Hastings.
Use them before you call, to decide whether the problem can wait for daylight, and while you wait, so the technician’s explanation makes sense when the van pulls in.
Guides you won’t find on a national site
The guides take on what makes St. Johns County different: mini-splits in the historic districts and what the preservation board will accept, what’s salvageable after an air handler sits in a king tide, raising outdoor units above the flood line in Davis Shores, the builder-grade systems aging out together across World Golf Village, how FPL and JEA rebates differ by address, maintenance for vacation rentals that turn over weekly, corrosion from Vilano down to Crescent Beach, humidity in plaster-and-lath houses, heat pumps for new construction on the Nocatee side, and placing equipment where preservation review allows.
Who writes it and when it changes
Everything on these shelves comes from technicians who drive to St. Augustine from our Palm Coast shop every week. When FPL rewrites its rebate rules, when a storm season changes what we know about the bayfront, or when a refrigerant change alters the replacement math, the relevant guide is updated. If something here is wrong or stale, tell us and we’ll fix it.
Using the library
Which guide should I read before hurricane season?
The one on flooded equipment after a king tide, and the one on elevating outdoor units in Davis Shores. Together they cover what to switch off, what’s salvageable and how to keep the next storm from being the last one for your condenser.
Are the problem pages useful for a mini-split, or only for central systems?
Most apply to both. Warm air, ice, short-cycling, water where it shouldn’t be and a tripping breaker all happen to ductless systems too, and each page notes where the ductless version differs.
Can I send you a question for a new guide?
Yes. Call 866-266-5709 or write to support@cooksair.com. If the same question keeps coming from St. Augustine homeowners, it gets a page.
- ProblemBreaker tripsReset it once. If it trips again, leave it off and call. Here is why, and what we test when we get there.
- ProblemIce on the linesFrost on the copper, a block of ice in the air handler, in summer. The physics, the three local causes, and the safe thaw.
- ProblemElectric bill jumpedHabits didn't change; the bill did. The suspects from biggest draw to smallest, and how we find the one that's yours.
- ProblemHouse feels stickyTwo kinds of St. Augustine house, two kinds of damp. Which one you have decides the fix.
- ProblemNew noiseGrinding, buzzing, rattling, screeching. Sorted by when it happens, which tells us more than what it sounds like.
- ProblemStarts and stops constantlyOn, off, on again. How to measure it, why it hurts more in this humidity, and the causes in the order we find them.
- ProblemBlowing warm airRunning but not cooling. The five-minute checklist, what the calendar says about the cause, and what the fix involves.
- ProblemWater leak or ceiling stainA puddle at the unit or a brown ring on the ceiling. The first ten minutes, the four sources, and how Davis Shores complicates it.
- GuideBuilder-grade systems, WGVWhy the original systems in Murabella, King and Bear and the Cascades are failing together, what 'builder-grade' really meant, and how to specify the replacement.
- GuideCoastal corrosionA mile-by-mile look at salt damage along the St. Johns coast, the parts it attacks, the specification that resists it, and the fins-on-a-brush test for when to replace.
- GuideElevating units in Davis ShoresStands, brackets and platforms for the island's lowest neighborhood: choosing the height, the type and the details, with the cost argument in plain words.
- GuideFlooded AC: what's salvageableHour one, the salt-versus-fresh rule, and a part-by-part verdict on outdoor units and air handlers after king-tide or surge flooding.
- GuideHeat pumps in new constructionWhy a builder-installed heat pump in a house under five years old still needs a plan: the warranty clock, the first-year checks, the early-upgrade cases and what JEA changes.
- GuideHumidity in plaster housesA symptom-first guide to moisture in St. Augustine's pre-war plaster homes: what the walls are doing, what the numbers should be, and the fixes from cheapest to most involved.
- GuideJEA vs FPL rebatesA decision tree for high-efficiency HVAC incentives in a county served by two electric utilities and one gas company, plus what became of the federal credit.
- GuideMini-splits in historic homesWindow units vs. ducted retrofit vs. ductless heads for the frame houses of Lincolnville and Nelmar Terrace, compared honestly.
- GuidePreservation review & equipmentWho reviews exterior HVAC equipment in the historic districts, what they look for, the screening options that pass, and a week-by-week timeline from first photo to final inspection.
- GuideVacation-rental HVACA rental-year calendar for St. Augustine turnover properties, with a cleaner's checklist, an owner's quarterly list and the failures that only happen in houses nobody lives in.
Reading didn't solve it?
Then it's a phone call. Any hour, same price after dark.