Emergency HVAC Repair in Silver Spring, MD
For emergency HVAC repair in Silver Spring and Montgomery County, call Shemtov Systems at 240-355-3333. We advertise a 24-hour answering service, so a person takes your call outside business hours rather than a voicemail box. Members of our maintenance plan are responded to before non-contract customers. Below is what genuinely counts as an emergency, what to do while you wait, and what can safely hold until morning.
Key takeaways
- Gas smell or a carbon monoxide alarm is not an HVAC call. Leave the building and call the gas emergency line or 911 from outside.
- No heat in a hard freeze and no cooling in a heat wave are genuine emergencies, particularly with infants, elderly residents or anyone with a medical condition.
- Water pouring from an indoor unit is urgent because of the damage it does, even though the system itself may be fine.
- A breaker that will not stay on is a fault, not a nuisance. Stop resetting it.
- Maintenance plan members get priority handling ahead of non-contract customers.
What counts as an HVAC emergency?
Treat these as urgent: no heat when outdoor temperatures are near or below freezing; no cooling during a heat wave, especially in a household with infants, elderly residents or anyone whose health depends on staying cool; water actively leaking from an indoor unit; a burning or electrical smell; a breaker that trips again immediately after being reset; and any loud grinding or metallic noise from a running system.
Gas smell and carbon monoxide alarms sit outside this list because they are not repair calls. Leave the building first and call from outside.
What can safely wait until morning?
A system that is still heating or cooling but doing it poorly, a thermostat that has lost its display, a mild new noise, a room that has always been uncomfortable, or a scheduled tune-up you meant to book. None of those get better overnight, but none of them cost you anything by waiting for normal hours, and normal-hours work is straightforward to schedule.
The honest test is whether the house is becoming unsafe or property is being damaged. If neither, it can wait.
What to do before we arrive
For no cooling: switch the system to OFF rather than leaving it running against a frozen coil, close blinds on the sun side, and move anyone vulnerable to the coolest part of the house. For no heat: close off unused rooms, keep interior doors open where the heat still reaches, and open cabinet doors under sinks on exterior walls so pipes stay above freezing.
For water leaking: switch the system off at the thermostat and at the breaker, and put a container under the drip. For any electrical smell: switch it off at the breaker and leave it off.
Photograph any diagnostic code blinking on the equipment. It saves diagnostic time.
What happens when you call
Call 240-355-3333. Shemtov Systems advertises a 24-hour answering service, so outside business hours your call is taken by a person rather than a machine. Have ready: your address, whether it is heating or cooling, roughly how old the system is, what it is doing or not doing, and any code showing on the unit.
Scheduled maintenance work runs during normal business hours, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday to Friday. Emergency calls are handled separately from that schedule.
Why membership matters most on the worst day
On the first genuinely cold night of the year, or the third day of a heat wave, everyone calls at once. That is exactly when priority handling is worth something: Maximum Performance Membership members are responded to before non-contract customers, and pay 15 percent less on service and repair rates. It is also the reason the plan's two visits are scheduled before each season rather than during it.
Preventing the emergency in the first place
Most emergency calls are not random. A furnace that fails on the first cold night was usually marginal in spring; a compressor that fails in August was usually running low on charge for months. The failures that strand people are overwhelmingly the ones a seasonal inspection is designed to catch: weak capacitors, dirty flame sensors, low refrigerant from a slow leak, blocked condensate drains, cracked heat exchangers.
Our guides on the signs a system needs repair and how often to service an HVAC system cover what to watch for.
Where we come from
Shemtov Systems works across Montgomery County and the Washington DC metro from two locations: the main office at 604 Ridgewell Way in Silver Spring, and a branch at 16501 Batchellors Forest Rd in Olney on 240-286-6590. Between them they cover the county from both ends, which matters when the call is urgent. See the areas we serve.
Family-owned since 1981, NATE-certified, licensed and insured in Maryland and Washington DC.
Frequently asked questions
Do you answer the phone at night and at weekends?
Shemtov Systems advertises a 24-hour answering service, so a person takes the call rather than a voicemail box. Call 240-355-3333, or 240-286-6590 for the Olney branch.
Is no heat always an emergency?
Not always. It is when outdoor temperatures are near or below freezing, when there is a risk of pipes freezing, or when someone in the household is vulnerable to cold. In mild weather, with the house holding a reasonable temperature, it can usually wait for normal hours.
My AC is leaking water. Is that urgent?
Yes, because of what the water damages rather than what it says about the system. Switch the system off at the thermostat and at the breaker and put a container under the drip. The usual cause is a blocked condensate drain, which is a routine repair, but the ceiling or floor it is soaking is not.
What should I do if I smell gas?
Leave the building immediately with everyone in it, do not switch anything on or off, and call your gas utility's emergency line or 911 from outside. Do not call an HVAC contractor first. The same applies to a sounding carbon monoxide alarm.
Does a maintenance plan get me seen faster?
Yes. Priority handling is one of the three member benefits: member service requests are responded to before non-contract customers. Members also pay 15 percent less on service and repair rates.
Talk to Shemtov Systems
For emergency HVAC repair in Silver Spring, Olney or anywhere in Montgomery County, call Shemtov Systems at 240-355-3333, or the Olney branch on 240-286-6590. Family-owned since 1981, with a 24-hour answering service.