Furnace repair pricing has an extra wrinkle AC doesn't: safety — and the scare tactics that get built on top of it. Here's what honestly determines the cost, and how to protect yourself from the industry's favorite oversell.
An ignitor or flame sensor is a fundamentally smaller repair than a blower motor, gas valve, or control board. Like AC repair, the part determines most of the cost — which is why a real diagnosis beats any phone estimate.
This is the repair that matters most — a cracked heat exchanger can leak carbon monoxide into your home, and it's also the most-abused scare tactic in the industry. We test properly and show you the evidence, either way. If someone condemns your furnace without showing you the crack, get a second opinion before spending thousands.
Gas-side repairs (valves, burners, pressure regulation) carry safety and code requirements that electrical-side repairs don't. Legitimate gas work is priced accordingly — suspiciously cheap gas work is not a bargain.
Parts for older furnaces can be discontinued or slow to source. At a certain age, the repair-vs-replace math genuinely shifts — we'll show you that math honestly rather than defaulting to either answer.
A furnace in a tight attic or crawlspace takes longer to service than a garage or closet installation. Labor time varies house to house — one more reason firm phone quotes are fiction.
One of our reviews tells this story better than we can: a customer watched Tom show every step of the heat exchanger test, learned how their own furnace works, and got a straight answer backed by evidence. That's the standard — proper testing, visible proof, plain English. A furnace condemnation you can't see evidence for isn't a diagnosis; it's a sales pitch. That's Tom's Word.
Our service call is $195, credited toward the repair if you approve the work. For no-heat calls, the diagnosis includes safety checks — not just finding the failure.
A genuinely cracked heat exchanger is serious — CO risk is real, and on most systems the economics favor replacement over the repair. But 'cracked heat exchanger' is also the industry's most common scare tactic. We test properly and show you the actual evidence. You should never take that diagnosis on faith from anyone — including us.
Leave the house, don't operate switches or the thermostat, and call your gas utility from outside. That comes before calling any HVAC company, including us.
Yes — all major brands. We install Rheem, Trane, and Lennox, and repair essentially everything.
No heat right now? See Furnace Not Turning On for what to check first, or the full Furnace Repair service page.