HVAC in New Mexico is an evaporative cooler plus a furnace for a large share of the housing, and that pairing is the point. The air is dry and the nights drop, so a roof cooler can work through a hot afternoon and then rest. It struggles when the monsoon raises humidity, the pads smell, and the indoor air goes clammy. Refrigerated systems are common in newer houses and in the hotter south, and they should not be diagnosed as if they were coolers. Heating is real in the north and on every clear winter night at elevation. A house can want cooling at four and heat at dawn in the shoulder seasons.
Say which machine is on the roof or in the closet. Cooler calls are pads, pumps, belts, water on the roof, and a curb leak. Refrigerant calls are no cooling, weak cooling, a frozen line, or a noise outdoors. A dust-packed filter after a spring wind can imitate a dead compressor. Ask what is checked first. If the ceiling is wet, say whether the cooler was running. That single fact splits a roof leak from a plumbing leak at the curb.
If there is no heat, say whether the furnace starts. Ask whether the heat exchanger, the flue, and combustion air were included. High-elevation towns do not burn fuel the way a sea-level town does, so a replacement copied from a milder place can be wrong. Ask whether ducts exist at all. Many cooler houses have none, and converting them is a different project from swapping a box. Ask about condensate on refrigerated systems so a clog does not become a ceiling.
Service the cooler before the hot stretch and the furnace before the cold nights. If the house is miserable today, skip the ideal month. Call the number on this page.