Furnace Repair in Mountain View

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Mountain View winters are mild by most standards, which is exactly why a furnace can sit unused for months and then fail on the first cold night. Cool Aid, a family-owned company since 1966, repairs gas furnaces across the city from our Santa Clara shop, and every call starts with a safety check before anything else.

Safety comes first with a gas furnace

Most Mountain View homes heat with natural gas delivered by PG&E. A furnace burns that gas a few feet from your living space, so we treat combustion safety as part of every repair, not an add-on. That means checking the burners, the flame sensor, the venting, and the heat exchanger for cracks or corrosion that could let combustion gases into the airstream.

If a carbon monoxide alarm sounds, get everyone outside and call 9-1-1 before calling anyone else.

Furnaces we see in Mountain View homes

Mid-century houses

Homes from the 1950s and 1960s often have furnaces in a hall closet, attic, or crawlspace, sometimes replaced once or twice since the house was built. On these systems we pay close attention to venting and duct connections, because decades of remodeling can leave flue pipes, returns, and supply runs in poor shape. A furnace that short-cycles or overheats is frequently struggling against restricted airflow rather than failing on its own.

Newer townhomes

In townhomes built more recently, the furnace is usually a compact high-efficiency unit in a garage or utility closet, with PVC venting and a condensate drain. Blocked condensate lines, pressure switch faults, and dirty flame sensors are the common calls here, and they are often the reason a furnace starts, runs for a minute, and shuts off again.

Common furnace problems we repair

• No heat at all: failed igniters, bad flame sensors, tripped limit switches, or control board faults.
• Short-cycling: the furnace fires and shuts down repeatedly, often from airflow restrictions or a dirty sensor.
• Blower problems: weak airflow, a noisy motor, or a blower that never stops.
• Condensate and venting faults on high-efficiency models.
• Thermostat and wiring issues that keep the call for heat from reaching the furnace.
• Heat exchanger concerns: if we find a crack, we shut the unit down and explain why.

Our Bay Area furnace and heating guide explains how these systems work in more depth, and our residential HVAC repair services page covers the rest of what we fix.

Before you call

Check that the thermostat is set to Heat and a few degrees above room temperature, that the furnace service switch (it looks like a light switch near the unit) is on, and that the filter is not clogged. Make sure the front panel is seated firmly, since many furnaces will not run with it loose. If the furnace still will not start, stop there: resetting it over and over can mask a real fault.

When a repair stops making sense

We repair first when the furnace is sound. If the heat exchanger is cracked, parts are no longer available, or you are facing repeated major repairs, we will tell you so and lay out the choices.

For many Mountain View homeowners, the choice now includes an electric heat pump. The city sits in Silicon Valley Clean Energy's service area, and SVCE offers a $2,000 rebate for replacing a gas furnace with a heat pump HVAC system ($3,000 for income-qualified households). You must apply before installation, and there is no separate Mountain View city HVAC rebate stacked on top (source). See our Bay Area heat pump rebate guide for how these programs work.

Permits are straightforward too. Mountain View's Same-Day (Express) building permit covers all-electric heat pump HVAC installs and replacements, issued online without plans when the project meets code (source). Depending on the equipment, a HERS verification may also be required on the changeout (source). Our AC and heat pump installation page walks through the full process.

Keep it from happening next winter

A furnace that runs only part of the year benefits from a check before the season starts: clean flame sensor, tested safety controls, clear vents and condensate lines. Our yearly HVAC maintenance visits cover heating and cooling together, so the same visit can catch the AC problems described on our Mountain View AC repair page.

Why homeowners call Cool Aid

• Family-owned since 1966, now run by second-generation owner Jim McKinny
• C-20 and C-38 licensed, with EPA Universal certified technicians
• A 1-year parts and labor warranty on every job
• 24/7 emergency HVAC repair for no-heat nights

Still comparing? Our guide to HVAC companies in Mountain View lists other local options, and our Mountain View HVAC services page covers everything we do in the city.

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Frequently asked questions

Written and reviewed by Jim McKinny, owner of Cool Aid Air Conditioning & Refrigeration — California C-20 and C-38 licensed, EPA Universal certified, second generation of a family business serving the Bay Area since 1966. Every job we complete is backed by our 1-year parts & labor warranty.