James Barras
Owner of Professional Heating & Air | HVAC Contractor and Louisiana Mechanical License Holder
Professional Overview
James Barras is the owner of Professional Heating & Air and has more than 20 years of HVAC experience. His background includes field work, formal HVAC education, apprenticeship training, federal facility experience, and 15 years building Professional Heating & Air. He leads the Hammond-based company with a focus on developing its people, improving service quality, and creating a positive workplace. His goal is continuous improvement that produces strong system service, a better customer experience, and long-term value for homeowners.
Quick Facts
Name: James Barras
Title: Owner of Professional Heating & Air
Experience: More than 20 years in HVAC; 15 years with Professional Heating & Air
Location and service areas: Hammond, Louisiana and Mandeville, Louisiana
Areas of focus: HVAC service, technician development, continuous company improvement, and delivering an exceptional experience for team members and customers
Experience & Leadership
James Barras began his HVAC career through an apprenticeship program after deciding to pursue a skilled trade that offered both technical challenges and the opportunity to eventually build a business. Over more than two decades in the industry, his experience has included working for two HVAC companies and serving as an HVAC technician for the federal government at a research building in New Orleans.
After gaining field experience and completing an HVAC degree through Delgado, James returned to Louisiana’s Northshore and started his own HVAC business from a garage in Ponchatoula. Over the following 15 years, he developed the business into Professional Heating & Air, serving customers in the Hammond and Mandeville areas.
As the owner of Professional Heating & Air, James focuses on improving how the business operates, developing the people within it, and creating a workplace where employees can succeed in a positive environment. The company’s stated mission is to empower its people to produce exceptional results through an elite company.
His leadership philosophy shapes both the company’s internal culture and its approach to customer service. He emphasizes continuous improvement, professionalism, strong team performance, and providing the best experience possible for employees and customers.
Technical Expertise
- HVAC systems and service
- Louisiana mechanical contracting
- HVAC technician field experience
- Apprenticeship-based HVAC trade training
- HVAC work in a federal research-building environment
- HVAC company operations and service delivery
- HVAC workforce development and technician growth
- Customer experience within an HVAC service business
Licenses & Certifications
- Louisiana State Mechanical License: #57241
- HVAC Degree: Delgado, New Orleans
Editorial Standards & Disclosures
Content attributed to James Barras draws on his real-world HVAC experience and professional industry knowledge. His author content is created with accuracy and homeowner clarity in mind, is subject to editorial oversight, and may be updated periodically as industry practices or company information change.
Editorial Policy
Last Updated
September 9, 2026
March 28th, 2022 | Written By James Barras | Reviewed By Ronnie Roundtree
It probably doesn’t feel very good to be on a strict budget, only to then hear that you require an additional paid service yearly on your AC system. It drives many homeowners to simply ignore scheduling maintenance needs, which works out fine for a few years until a serious repair pops up, or the system starts running 20% less efficiently than it’s supposed to.
This blog post is more of a post about the true cost of AC maintenance in Covington, LA, and how you can properly budget for it. Nobody knows your budget and financial needs better than you, so make sure you take our advice and apply it to your specific situation!
The truth is that in order to save the most money year after year, you’re going to need to invest in maintenance. So, let’s figure out a way to do that while meeting your other financial demands.
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Tags: AC Maintenance, Covington
Posted in Air Conditioning | Comments Off on How to Budget for AC Maintenance
March 14th, 2022 | Written By James Barras | Reviewed By Ronnie Roundtree
First of all, if you’re not a new homeowner, you’re still welcome to read this blog! We’d like to welcome everyone to our informative blog where we talk about the industry-specific terms that we think everyone should be aware of.
For all you new homeowners out there, congratulations! It’s an amazing feat for anyone to purchase a home in this economy, and we want to help you save money down the line. You can always call our team to repair your HVAC system in Hammond, LA, but we’re going to start with a glossary of handy terms to keep in mind.
The more you know about your heating system, the more likely you’ll know exactly when to call a professional for repairs. Knowledge is power, and we think it’s time we handed you a bit more power now that you’re in charge of your own HVAC system.
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Tags: cooling, Hammond, Heating, HVAC system
Posted in Heating | Comments Off on Our Heating System Glossary for New Homeowners
February 28th, 2022 | Written By James Barras | Reviewed By Ronnie Roundtree
Heaters are designed to provide the entire home with heat for many seasons. This is absolutely true, and we would say that anyone with a heater that can’t meet this demand needs to call us for support. Though, one thing we hear often is homeowners trying to get their old and outdated heaters to continue working long after they’ve passed their serviceable lifespan. This is a big problem that we’re looking to address today.
Forced air heating systems, like heat pumps or furnaces, are only supposed to reasonably last from 10-15 years before they’ll start running up your bill and causing you problems. When evaluating your home HVAC in Hammond, LA, we want you to pay attention to the following signs that you might need to replace your heating system.
Don’t worry! Our team will be with you every step of the way.
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Tags: Hammond, HVAC
Posted in Heating | Comments Off on You Might Need Heater Replacement Soon
February 14th, 2022 | Written By James Barras | Reviewed By Ronnie Roundtree
If you use a gas furnace in your home, then you’re just one of the millions of homeowners that utilize this technology. Gas furnaces are safe, affordable, and efficient for homes that require powerful heating. With all that said, we need to be clear about how the process works and when you might encounter the need for heating repair in Mandeville, LA.
We’ll start this conversation by talking about mercaptan, a chemical that you might not know much about. It exists in every home with a gas furnace and it’s something that you might want to be aware of the next time you encounter a furnace issue.
Today, we’re going to start by investigating this mysterious chemical and find out what it does for you and your family. Then, we’ll go on to discuss when you might need professional help to fix your furnace, all based around detecting this chemical.
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Tags: Heating Repair, Mandeville
Posted in Heating | Comments Off on What is Mercaptan, and Is It in Your Home?
January 17th, 2022 | Written By James Barras | Reviewed By Ronnie Roundtree
We could’ve chosen any name we wanted for our company, and we went with Professional Heating & Air. Why would we do that? We could’ve used our names, a mascot, or even a local landmark to show some Louisianna pride!
Well, the truth is that professionals are becoming more and more important for people to have when they need help with HVAC. If there’s one thing we want you to know about us, it’s that we’re licensed, insured, and well-trained professionals who can get your heating repair in Madisonville, LA done right.
It’s easy to understand why homeowners in our area go with amateur service or try to fix their heating systems themselves. Especially during a time of such financial hardship, sometimes people just don’t feel like they have a choice!
We’re here to tell you why you might actually spend more money trying to fix your heater on your own.
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Tags: Heating Repair, Madisonville
Posted in Heating | Comments Off on Always Go Pro With Your Heating Repairs
January 3rd, 2022 | Written By James Barras | Reviewed By Ronnie Roundtree
It’s time to talk about your air filter! Remember that component that you haven’t thought about for a few months that you probably read something about back then? Well, we’re back to talk about it, and we hope that we’ll impart you with some new information that can help you fight against uncomfortable temperatures and high heating bills!
Your air filter is an important part of the heating and cooling process. We’re not just saying that to get you to purchase a new air filter or anything, in fact, replacing your air filter can be cheap and done completely by yourself, so we’re telling you about this in hopes that you save money rather than spend it.
Let’s talk about why changing your air filter is important, and why it’s going to help you avoid heating repair in Covington, LA.
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Tags: Covington, Heating Repair, HVAC
Posted in Heating | Comments Off on 3 Reasons to Change Your Air Filter
December 20th, 2021 | Written By James Barras | Reviewed By Ronnie Roundtree
While we’ve still got a few warm days ahead of us, temperatures are definitely starting to drop at night, which means we’re relying on our heating systems more. This is how it usually goes, and as your local HVAC experts, we’re on call ready to help you with all of your heating needs when something goes wrong.
However, there’s more to being a heating system owner than just running the unit for as long as possible until it breaks down and you need to call us for help. Your heater relies on you to recognize when it’s having trouble, running into problems, and also to identify when it’s running inefficiently. This is what we would call a “struggling” heater, and it might sound familiar.
We want to focus on a few reasons why you might need help with your struggling heating in Ponchatoula, LA, before temperatures drop even more in the next few months.
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Tags: Heating, Heating Repair, Ponchatoula
Posted in Heating | Comments Off on “Why Is My Heater Struggling?”
December 6th, 2021 | Written By James Barras | Reviewed By Ronnie Roundtree
Down here in Mandeville, LA, we don’t get the coldest temperatures imaginable. Things sure do get chilly, especially at night, but we’re not really going through any safety emergencies when our heaters run into problems. The most important factor of our heating systems is their efficiency. The more efficient your heater is, the better off you will be going forward and the less you’ll have to pay for your bills!
This blog post is all about energy efficiency. We want to talk about how to measure it, what it actually means, and which heating system is the most efficient when you’re choosing one. This is going to be important in the future because when utility bills rise, it can be a sign that you need heating repair in Mandeville, LA, and that’s going to depend on the efficiency of your system starting out.
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Tags: Heating Repair, Mandeville
Posted in Heating | Comments Off on Which Heater Is the Most Energy-Efficient?
November 22nd, 2021 | Written By James Barras | Reviewed By Ronnie Roundtree
Are you getting tired of seeing that giant oil drum in your basement take up valuable space, while your heating system isn’t working as well as it should anyways? Don’t worry, you’re not the only one. Sure, you could call us for heating repair in Hammond, LA and we’d be right there to help you out, but depending on the type of system you have, repairs might be putting a band-aid on a problem that requires surgery.
The main point we’re trying to make is that homeowners in our area are more commonly starting to switch from oil-burning systems to systems that use natural gas. It’s not just a hot new fad or the result of some media campaign, there are some really great reasons to switch to this fuel type that is only going to get better in the coming years.
If you’re ready to take the next step and upgrade your system, or if you just need help with repairs, be sure to read on and give us a call.
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Tags: Hammond, Heating Repair, heating replacement
Posted in Heating | Comments Off on It’s Time to Replace Your Oil Heater
November 8th, 2021 | Written By James Barras | Reviewed By Ronnie Roundtree
A booming furnace is a bad thing to encounter. Don’t get us wrong, every heating system makes some kind of noise when it turns on and starts to heat your home. As air goes through your ductwork, the air ducts will expand and contract based on the temperature differential, and this can sometimes make noise. Noises aren’t inherently bad when you hear them in your home.
However, many noises are. We like to use the term “loud and uncomfortable noises” because that separates the good noises from the bad noises pretty clearly. If you encounter any loud or uncomfortable noises, like a booming sound, then you probably need heating repair in Covington, LA.
Based on how common this booming noise is when we get calls from homeowners, we’d like to spend today investigating how this noise comes up and what might be going on inside your furnace when it does.
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Tags: Covington, Heating Repair
Posted in Heating | Comments Off on Don’t Let Your Furnace Boom
