Upfront pricing from a crew that does not treat heating as an afterthought. The local AC company for Oceanway, Dinsmore, Highlands and the whole Northside: air conditioning repair and installation, heat pumps, furnace repair, duct work and mini splits.
Tell us what’s going on — we’ll get back to you in a flash.
The Great Dane difference
The Northside HVAC Company That Takes Heating Seriously
For more than 20 years Great Dane Heating & Air has kept Jacksonville and Duval County comfortable — in January as well as in August, which up here is not a throwaway line. A family company with upfront pricing, comfort techs who treat your home like their own, and a soft spot for shelter dogs.
The Northside is a wide run and a cold one by Jacksonville standards, and the winter calls repeat — the same strip heat, the same defrost cycle mistaken for a fault, the same thermostat habit costing real money.
Licensed & Insured
Florida state certified contractor CAC036942, fully insured, and accredited with the Better Business Bureau at an A+ rating. Every tech who pulls into your driveway works under that license.
20+ Years in Service
Two decades across Duval County, through every cold snap it has had. The people who answer your call are the same people who show up at your door.
Every Job Gives Back
We’re a proud supporter of the Jacksonville Humane Society. Part of what you spend keeping your home comfortable helps shelter dogs here in Jacksonville find one of their own.
No cost, no pressure
Get a Free Estimate on Your System
Tell us what it’s doing. We find the real problem, give you the whole number before any work starts, and tell you straight if a repair is not worth your money.
When your air conditioner is past its prime, more AC repair isn’t always the answer. A new, energy-efficient AC installation can end the breakdown cycle, cool your home evenly, and take a real bite out of summer power bills.
Our Jacksonville team gives you the honest math on AC replacement vs. repair, sizes the new system correctly for Florida heat, and leaves the job site cleaner than we found it — just like this install.
The ocean keeps the beaches a few degrees kinder on a winter night. Up here there is nothing doing that, which makes the heating half of the system matter in a way it does not elsewhere in Jacksonville.
78°Set to 78° — nine months a year
The nightsColder than the coast
Water moderates temperature and the Northside has none of it nearby, so on a clear still night this end of the county drops further than the beaches do. The same forecast means something different here, and so does the same equipment.
The strip heatWhere the bill comes from
When it gets cold enough that a heat pump cannot keep pace, resistance heaters take over. They work, and they cost several times as much for the same warmth. Most large winter bills up here are that, running longer than it needed to.
The defrostWorking, not broken
In cold damp air the outdoor coil ices, and the system reverses briefly to clear it. For a minute or two the vents blow cool and the unit steams. It is the commonest winter callout we get and it is the machine doing exactly what it should.
The setbackThe habit that backfires
Turning the heat well down overnight and back up in the morning asks for a recovery the heat pump cannot deliver alone, so the strip heaters make up the difference. The saving disappears into the catch‑up. It is the cheapest thing to fix on this whole list.
Northside Service Area
From Dunn Avenue Out to Oceanway
The widest run we do, and the coldest end of the county on the nights that matter. This is where the truck actually ends up.
Oceanway
Newer subdivisions on the northern edge, where most of the equipment is young and the questions are about setup.
Dinsmore
Larger properties with more land around them. Longer runs, and outdoor units set well away from the house.
Highlands & Sherwood
Established streets closer in, with systems old enough that the repair‑or‑replace conversation is a real one.
Dunn Avenue
The east‑west spine. Most of what we run up here comes off it somewhere.
Lem Turner Corridor
North and west, where the lots open up and the nights get coldest.
River City & the Airport Side
Retail, offices and warehousing — work we cover on the commercial side.
$99Refresh & Tune‑Up
Limited‑time offer
$99HVAC Refresh & Tune‑Up
A full seasonal check‑over of the system you already have — so small problems stay small.
Straight talk: If somebody tells you your system is “illegal now” because of the refrigerant rules — it isn’t. R‑410A systems can still be serviced. New equipment moved to R‑454B in 2025 and R‑410A production is stepping down, so topping off an older system gets pricier every year. That’s a reason to plan, not a reason to panic‑buy tonight.
Paw Partner
Community
There Is a Reason for the Name
Great Dane Heating & Air was founded by people who are frankly useless around animals in the best way, and the company was built on the understanding that it should be worth something to the pet population of Duval County as well as to its customers.
So there are rescue events, hours given to the animals still waiting at the shelter, and a Rescue of the Week put in front of everyone who follows us. It is also why we are a Paw Partner Corporate Sponsor of the Jacksonville Humane Society.
A working system is comfort twice a year up here, not once. The heating side gets asked to do more on this end of the county than most people expect when they buy the equipment.
Vetted people in your home
Florida state certified — licence CAC036942 — fully insured, and BBB accredited at an A+ rating. The same small crew every time, not a rotating list of subcontractors.
The air in a shut‑up house
A house closed tight through a cold snap is a house recirculating the same air for days. Filtration, purification and humidity control matter in January for different reasons than they do in July, and both are worth having right.
The bill explained, not excused
If a January bill jumped, you get shown why — usually strip heat doing work the heat pump could have done. Our work is guaranteed — that is the whole point of the name on the truck.
Free estimate, honest answer.Tell us what your system is doing and we’ll tell you what it actually needs.
Paul came out and replaced our blower motor and saved the day. He fielded my call on Sunday evening, then did the service Monday afternoon. Friendly, efficient, and professional.
After years of feeling vulnerable to dishonest HVAC companies, a neighbor put me in touch. He quickly earned my trust — quick to return calls, reasonable rates, and he’s never tried to sell me things I don’t need.
We’ve used him for everything from small tweaks to replacing our entire unit. Quick, reliable, honest, and clean — and he beat the prices of every competitor. Yes, we priced out seven.
Fast and efficient, unbelievably affordable pricing. He quickly figures out the problem and explains it in a way anyone can understand. You automatically feel like you can trust him.
Our A/C went down and the team showed up Monday morning first thing. We had cool air flowing in no time. The crew was fast, clean, and finished under time.
Mike and the team were very professional, friendly, and knowledgeable. The price was not unreasonable. So happy we found this company — we know we will be taken care of in the years to come.
Just had Great Dane install a new A/C in my home. Mike came to my home, saw what I had, and I told him what I wanted installed. There was absolutely no sales pressure.
Mike came out and gave an estimate with no fluff, which is what I like. He was honest and professional. The team that installed the unit worked well together and the work performed was stellar!
The questions Jacksonville asks us most — straight answers, no jargon.
The heat blows cool for a minute and then comes back. Is it broken?+
Almost certainly not. That is the defrost cycle: the outdoor coil ices up in cold damp air, the system briefly reverses to clear it, and for a minute or two what comes out of the vents is not warm. It is the equipment working correctly, and it is the single most common winter call we take up here.
The January bill was enormous and nothing seemed wrong.+
Nothing was necessarily wrong. Below a certain outdoor temperature a heat pump cannot keep up on its own and the strip heaters take over, and strip heat is straight resistance heating — it costs several times what the heat pump costs to deliver the same warmth. The question is whether it ran because it had to or because something was set up to call it early.
One room is freezing in winter and fine in summer.+
That points at airflow rather than at the equipment, because heating exposes a weak run more obviously than cooling does. The room furthest along the trunk gets the least air in both seasons; you simply notice it more when the air is supposed to be warm. Measuring at that register against the others finds it.
Is a heat pump really the right thing this far north?+
For this climate, yes, and it does the cooling as well. The honest caveat is that the heating side matters more here than it does at the beaches, so the sizing and the controls deserve real attention rather than being treated as an afterthought to the air conditioning. That is a specification question, not a reason to avoid one.
The equipment is sized for summer. Does winter get considered at all?+
It should, and frequently it has not been. In Florida the cooling load drives the sizing, which is reasonable, but it means the heating behaviour of the system is whatever falls out of that decision. Where a house has a genuine winter problem, it is usually fixable in the controls and the balance rather than by replacing anything.
We are on a big lot and the unit is a long way from the house.+
That is common out here and it is worth knowing what it costs you. Longer line sets and longer duct runs both give up a little performance, and the further the equipment sits the more the routing and the drain want doing properly. None of it is a problem; all of it is worth getting right at installation.
Does a heat pump need anything different before winter?+
The same coil and airflow checks matter more, because in heating the outdoor coil is doing the opposite job and a restricted one drives the system onto strip heat sooner. A pre‑winter look is worth more up here than it is at the coast, and it is largely the same visit.
What is the $99 HVAC Refresh & Tune‑Up?+
A full seasonal check‑over of the system you already have — measurements taken, the parts that genuinely foul cleaned, and a straight answer about what needs attention and what does not. Up here it is also when we check how and when the strip heat is being called. Cannot be combined with any other offer, one per household.
Is it true that turning the heat down at night costs more?+
With a heat pump it frequently does. Dropping the thermostat several degrees overnight and pushing it back up in the morning asks for more heat than the heat pump can deliver quickly, so the strip heaters run to catch up — and that recovery can cost more than the setback saved. Small adjustments, or none at all, usually win.
Do you come this far north?+
Routinely. Oceanway, Dinsmore, Highlands, Sherwood and out along Dunn Avenue and Lem Turner are all inside the normal service area at the same pricing as anywhere else we go. Great Dane is licensed in Florida as CAC036942, which you are welcome to look up before you let anybody into the house.
Will you tell me if I do not need the work?+
Yes, and in winter that matters, because a defrost cycle and a cold snap between them explain most of the calls we get and neither is a fault. If your system is behaving normally you will be told so, with the readings that show it.
Anything worth checking before I call?+
Three things that cost nothing. Check the breaker for the air handler and for the outdoor unit — strip heat often sits on its own. Look at the filter, because a collapsed one starves the system and imitates a far bigger fault. And note whether the outdoor unit is running at all when the heat is on; that one answer saves us both time.
Everything we do, in your neighborhood.One crew for all of it — not a different company for each job.
AC Repair
Fast, honest fixes when the cool cuts out. We diagnose it right and quote it upfront — before the work starts.
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AC Replacement & Installation
Right-sized new systems with honest quotes. We help you pick what actually fits your home and budget.
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Emergency AC Repair
Broke down in the Florida heat? Call and we’ll tell you what it is likely to be, and whether it can safely wait until morning.
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Heating Repair
Warm and ready for the cold snaps. Furnaces, heat strips and everything in between.
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HVAC Maintenance
Seasonal tune-ups that prevent summer breakdowns and keep your energy bills in check.
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Heat Pump Services
Efficient heating and cooling in one system — perfect for Florida weather.
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Ductless Mini-Splits
Cool the rooms your ducts can’t reach — garages, additions, sunrooms and more.
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Air Duct Cleaning
Cleaner air and better airflow from every vent in the house.
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Indoor Air Quality
Purifiers, filtration and humidity control so your family breathes easier.
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Commercial HVAC
Installs, repairs and maintenance that keep Jacksonville businesses comfortable.
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Commercial AC Repair
When the cooling quits mid-shift, we find the real fault and give you the number before any work starts.
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Commercial AC System Replacement
Right-sized equipment for your space, quoted upfront so there are no surprises on the invoice.
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Commercial Preventative HVAC Maintenance
Scheduled tune-ups that catch small faults early — before they turn into a closed sign.
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Commercial Indoor Air Quality
Filtration and humidity control for offices, shops, salons and waiting rooms.
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Commercial Air Duct Cleaning
Cleaner air and better airflow through every vent in the building.
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Paw Partner
Meet the Jacksonville Humane Society →
Mini-split install, done right
Wiring up a new system
High-efficiency system on a fresh pad
Twin-system install
Bryant condenser on a fresh pad
Condenser replacement
New air handler, tucked in clean
Delivery day
The big teal truck
Our smallest biggest fan
Come say hi at the home show
Airflow Why Your AC Freezes Up in a Florida Summer
Repair How to Reset Your AC After a Power Outage
Humidity Why Your House Feels Sticky at 74 Degrees