Seasonal tune-up and full diagnostic on your Carrier, Trane, or Goodman system - readings shown to you before any repair is proposed
Diagnosis first, numbers second - you approve the repair price before a single part goes in.
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AfterFast, Reliable Furnace Repair Across San Francisco
Furnace repair in San Francisco typically costs between $175 and $825, and in most cases our crews can be at your door the same day you call. We work on furnaces in the Sunset, the Richmond, the Mission, Noe Valley, and every neighborhood in between. If your heat is out and the fog is rolling in, call us at (747) 966-3037 and a live person will answer, any hour, any day. Our Furnace Repair team knows exactly how San Francisco homes are built, and what that means for your heating system.
Why Meadowsweet Heating & Air Is San Francisco’s Preferred Furnace Repair Company
We answer the phone with a real person, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including nights, weekends, and holidays. No voicemail queue, no “press 1 for service.” When you call about a furnace repair in San Francisco, you talk to someone who can dispatch a crew to your address. Our technicians arrive in uniform, with shoe covers and drop cloths, and they follow our C.A.R.E. values code: Clean up like it’s their own home, Ask before moving anything, Respect your family’s time and quiet hours, and Explain the price before the work begins.
As part of the Cedarwell family of HVAC companies, established in 2004, Meadowsweet Heating & Air is built around the Cedarwell Care Promise. That means a written price before any work starts, background-checked uniformed technicians, and a 365-Day Done Right Promise behind every job. If it’s not done right, we make it right. No runarounds, no fine print.
Luis Serrano leads our team with a simple standard: the house should look and feel better when we leave than it did when we arrived. We send a photo of the clean-up before the crew pulls away, on every job, not as an upsell. For families with kids and pets, that matters.
Furnace Maintenance in San Francisco
Furnace Maintenance in San Francisco is not a one-size-fits-all checklist, because the city’s housing stock is older, tighter, and more varied than almost anywhere else in the Bay Area. A tune-up for a furnace in a 1908 Edwardian flat off Cole Street looks different from one for a 1950s stucco house in the Sunset. What stays the same: our techs inspect the heat exchanger for cracks, test the ignitor and gas valve, check the blower motor, and measure static pressure so the system isn’t working harder than it should. A tune-up in San Francisco runs $95 to $235, and we give you a written report of exactly what we found, with a fixed price for any repair before we touch anything.
What a San Francisco tune-up actually includes
We check the heat exchanger with the care you’d expect for a furnace that may be as old as the house. We clean the burners, test the flame sensor, and listen to the blower motor for bearing wear. We also inspect the flue and venting, because in older San Francisco homes, venting is often shared through a chimney that hasn’t been looked at in decades.
When maintenance beats repair
If your furnace is running but the rooms never warm evenly, a tune-up with a static pressure check is the right first step. In San Francisco’s attached row houses, unbalanced ductwork is often the real problem, not the furnace itself. A $95 to $235 maintenance visit can tell you whether a repair will actually solve the comfort issue, or whether the ductwork and system design need attention first.
Heat Pump Repair in San Francisco
Heat Pump Repair in San Francisco is a growing part of what we do, because more homeowners in the Richmond, the Mission, and Noe Valley are switching to heat pumps as their old floor furnaces and wall heaters hit the end of their useful life. A heat pump in San Francisco has an easier job than one in San Jose: it rarely faces extreme heat or bitter cold. But the salt-laden coastal air in the western avenues accelerates corrosion on outdoor compressor units, and that changes what we look for during a repair. Diagnostics for a heat pump in San Francisco run from $175 to $765, depending on the fault, and we stock parts for Trane and Carrier heat pumps so turnaround is fast.
Common heat pump issues near the coast
In the Outer Sunset and Outer Richmond, we see more corroded condenser coils and outdoor electrical connections than anywhere else in the city. The marine layer keeps moisture on the unit for hours every day. We also see a lot of heat pumps that were never sized for the specific microclimate of the block they sit on, so we always verify the load before replacing a major component.
When to repair, when to plan ahead
If your heat pump is over 12 years old and needs a compressor or a new outdoor coil, we’ll tell you honestly if a repair is good money or bad money. In a city with PG&E electrification rebates still available, sometimes the better path is replacing the outdoor unit and keeping the indoor air handler, and we’ll price both options in writing before you decide.
Trusted Brands We Service in San Francisco
Our team services nine major equipment brands, and for San Francisco specifically, we carry repair parts for Trane, Lennox, Goodman, and Rheem in our local stock. That means a blower motor, ignitor, or gas valve for those brands can often be installed the same day without waiting on a shipment. If you have a Goodman furnace in the Sunset or a Rheem unit in Visitacion Valley, we can get it running quickly. For older systems, we source the right part rather than forcing a universal replacement that doesn’t fit.
Common Furnace Repair Problems We See in San Francisco Homes
- Condemned floor furnace heat exchangers. Thousands of pre-1940 Edwardian flats in the Haight, Cole Valley, and the Inner Sunset still rely on floor furnaces recessed into the hardwood. Once the heat exchanger is cracked and red-tagged by PG&E, that unit cannot legally be repaired, period. We handle the replacement conversation honestly, because no patch will clear a red tag.
- Undersized or leaky original ductwork. Many San Francisco homes were never built for forced-air heating. If your house has gravity-feed ducts or a system retrofitted decades ago, a new furnace on the old ducts will still fight the floor plan. We check static pressure and duct sizing before recommending a repair or swap.
- Ignitor and gas valve failures. Older furnaces with standing pilot lights are still common in San Francisco. When the ignitor fails or the gas valve sticks, the furnace won’t light at all. These are straightforward repairs, usually $175 to $500, and we carry common parts on the truck.
- Blower motor wear on single-zone systems. In a three-story Edwardian with one furnace, the blower motor runs hard trying to push air to every floor. That’s why we see more blower motor failures in San Francisco’s vertical homes than in single-story houses elsewhere. A replacement blower motor runs $250 to $650, and we check the static pressure after install so the new motor isn’t overworked the same way.
Pricing for Furnace Repair in San Francisco, CA
Here is what furnace repair actually costs in San Francisco, in plain dollars. A typical diagnostic visit runs from $95 to $175. Repairs such as ignitor replacement, flame sensor cleaning, or gas valve repair run $175 to $500. A blower motor replacement or heat exchanger repair can run $450 to $825, depending on the furnace and access. If the repair requires opening a wall or ceiling in an older home, add for that scope. You always get a written price before any work starts, so there is no mystery at the end.
| Service | Typical Price Range in San Francisco |
|---|---|
| Furnace Repair | $175-$825 |
| Furnace Tune-Up | $95-$235 |
| AC Repair | $175-$765 |
| AC Installation | $4,130-$8,850 |
We Also Serve Cities Near San Francisco
Our crews work throughout the Bay Area, including Daly City, Brisbane, Sausalito, and South San Francisco. If you live just outside San Francisco and need furnace repair, call us at (747) 966-3037. We coordinate dispatch and scheduling from our San Francisco Bay Area office, and crews serve San Francisco and nearby cities daily.
Serving San Francisco, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the San Francisco area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs About Furnace Repair in San Francisco
No, not if the heat exchanger is condemned. A cracked heat exchanger on a recessed floor furnace is a red-tag situation: state and local code prohibit repairing it, and no licensed technician will patch it. The only legal fix is replacement. In the Haight, Cole Valley, and the Inner Sunset, we see this constantly because the building stock is so uniform. A red-tag on one unit in a block of attached Edwardian flats usually triggers a run of replacement calls from neighbors with the same vintage equipment. Call (747) 966-3037 and we’ll come out, confirm exactly what’s there, and give you a written price for the replacement that fits your floor plan and your panel.
Because the old furnace was rarely the only problem. In a Victorian or Edwardian built with gravity-feed ducts or a single floor furnace, the new unit often gets bolted onto undersized or leaky original ductwork. The result is the same complaint: one floor is warm, another is cold, and the new furnace cycles constantly. Before we swap a furnace in an older San Francisco home, we run a load calculation and check static pressure. If the ducts can’t carry the new unit’s airflow, we’ll tell you before you spend the money. A proper swap sometimes means replacing a section of duct or adding a return, not just changing the furnace.
Sometimes, yes. Many pre-war San Francisco homes still have 60-amp or 100-amp panels, and an older panel may not have enough capacity for a modern heat pump or a high-efficiency furnace with an ECM blower motor. We check the panel during the estimate. If an upgrade is needed, we’ll tell you early, in writing, so it doesn’t surface as a surprise line item later.
Most furnace repairs in San Francisco run between $175 and $825. A simple ignitor or flame sensor replacement is usually under $300. A gas valve or blower motor runs higher, from $350 to $650. A heat exchanger repair, where it’s legal, is on the upper end. You’ll get a written price before any work starts, with no surprise charges at the end. Call (747) 966-3037 for an exact quote, and the estimate is free.
In San Francisco, often yes. Our marine microclimate means the vast majority of the city’s housing was built without central air conditioning, so heating is the priority, and a ductless mini-split heat pump fits an Edwardian flat with no ductwork far better than trying to force a ducted system into attic or crawl-space restrictions. PG&E electrification rebates still apply to qualifying systems. We’ll give you both prices, repair versus replacement, in writing, so you can plan before you decide. Call (747) 966-3037 and we’ll walk through the numbers with you.
Written by Luis Serrano, Owner at Meadowsweet Heating & Air, serving San Francisco since our founding in 2004.