Furnace Repair in Palo Alto
Palo Alto has among the mildest summers in the South Bay, heavy morning fog and light cooling load, so heating is the system people actually rely on. But what counts as the heating system splits sharply by housing type, and that changes the whole furnace conversation. The city has one of the highest concentrations of Eichler homes in the state, and those mid-century houses were built with radiant-slab heating, copper tubing cast into the concrete, not a forced-air furnace at all.
On the Eichler side there is usually nothing to repair. The copper-in-concrete radiant systems have mostly failed and cannot be fixed, because you cannot reach the tubing without breaking the slab. When that is the situation, the honest answer is not furnace repair, it is conversion, and the post-and-beam ceilings rule out adding traditional ducts. A multi-head ductless heat pump is the established fix here, and we have done several Eichler retrofits. We will tell you plainly if your radiant slab is past saving rather than quoting a repair that does not exist.
The non-Eichler stock is where conventional furnace repair lives. The Spanish revivals and Mediterranean homes of Old Palo Alto and Crescent Park, plus the Midtown and Barron Park infill, run gas furnaces or modern heat pumps, and these get the standard diagnostics: ignitor, flame sensor, draft inducer, control board, with CO and heat exchanger safety checks on every gas call. Palo Alto customers tend to want code-perfect work and high-efficiency equipment, and the city's municipal utility, CPAU, has historically run ahead of PG&E on heat pump incentives. We verify CPAU eligibility on every estimate where replacement is on the table.
What we run into in Palo Alto
Gas furnace repair in non-Eichler stock. On the Spanish revivals, Mediterranean homes, and Midtown infill that run forced-air gas, we handle the standard no-heat failures: cracked ignitor, fouled flame sensor, worn draft inducer, drifting control board. Common parts on the truck.
Radiant-slab failure assessment for Eichlers. If you own an Eichler with original copper-in-concrete radiant heat that has quit, we will tell you straight whether it is repairable. Usually it is not, the tubing is unreachable. We do not quote a repair that does not exist; we lay out the real options instead.
CO and heat exchanger safety check. Every gas furnace call includes a carbon monoxide reading, gas valve test, and heat exchanger inspection. If we confirm a crack or dangerous CO, we document it, show you, and shut the unit down before leaving.
Heat pump diagnostics on high-efficiency systems. Many Palo Alto homes have already moved to high-efficiency heat pumps. No-heat there means reversing valves, control boards, and defrost sensors, not burners. We diagnose the actual fault on the equipment in front of us rather than guessing at parts.
Eichler ductless conversion with CPAU rebate check. When an Eichler radiant system is done, a multi-head ductless heat pump is the canonical answer that preserves the open-ceiling architecture. We verify current CPAU and manufacturer rebate eligibility and put the stacked numbers on the estimate.
Furnace Repair in Palo Alto: common questions
Do you service Palo Alto, and how is response time?
My Eichler's heat stopped working. Can you repair the radiant floor?
What does diagnosis cost, and do you handle the rebate paperwork?
Nearby and related
Furnace Repair near Palo Alto: Menlo Park · Los Altos · Mountain View .
Other HVAC services in Palo Alto: AC Repair · Ductless Mini-Split · Heat Pump Installation & Service · HVAC Installation · Maintenance Plans .
Common furnace repair problems in Palo Alto: Furnace Blowing Cold Air · Furnace Not Heating .
See the full furnace repair overview or our Palo Alto service area.
Furnace Repair in Palo Alto
Free on-site assessment, written the same day.
Bay Area · 7am–7pm · 7 days · no overtime charges