The short answer
We repair every common type of home heating in East Palo Alto, including gas furnaces, wall heaters, floor furnaces, heat pumps and thermostats. The first step is identifying your system and the symptom, then we test, explain the cause and fix it once you approve.
Heating systems in East Palo Alto come in more varieties than most people realize. On a single street you might find a forced-air gas furnace in one garage, a wall heater in the hallway next door, a ductless heat pump in a remodel and an old floor furnace still warming a living room further down the block. Each one fails in its own way, and fixing them well means knowing the differences. ExpertFlow HVAC Repair Service travels about eight miles north from Los Altos to repair all of these systems in homes across the city. Rather than repeat what our furnace page covers, this page focuses on the broader picture: how to tell what kind of system you have, which problems show up with each, and what to do while you wait for help on a cold, damp night.
Which heating system is in your home?
Knowing your equipment helps you describe the problem and helps us arrive with the right parts. A quick look around the house usually answers the question.
- Vents in the floor or ceiling of most rooms and a metal cabinet in a closet, garage or attic usually mean a forced-air furnace or heat pump air handler.
- A single grille on a hallway wall that heats the surrounding rooms is typically a gas wall furnace.
- A large metal grate set into the floor, often in a central hallway, points to a floor furnace.
- White wall-mounted units high on the wall, paired with a box outside, are ductless heat pump heads.
- An outdoor unit that runs in winter as well as summer means your central system is a heat pump, not only an air conditioner.
Problems we see with each type
Wall and floor furnaces are simple machines, but many in the area are decades old. Pilot lights that will not stay lit, thermocouples that have worn out and gas valves that stick are routine repairs. Because these units vent combustion gases directly, we always check the venting and look for cracks or rust in the burner area.
Heat pumps raise different questions. During winter, the outdoor unit periodically runs a defrost cycle, which can produce steam and a short pause in heating. That is normal. What is not normal is an outdoor coil covered in thick ice, a unit that blows cool air for long stretches, or one that has stopped switching between heating and cooling. Reversing valves, defrost controls and sensors are the usual suspects.
Thermostats cause more no-heat calls than many people expect. Dead batteries, a mismatched setting after a power outage, or a smart thermostat installed without the correct wiring for a heat pump can all leave a working system sitting idle.
While you wait for a technician
A few steps can keep the house comfortable and protect the equipment until we arrive. Check the breaker and any service switch near the unit. Replace a badly clogged filter if you have one on hand. For a heat pump with heavy ice, switching the thermostat to emergency heat, if it has that setting, keeps the house warm without stressing the outdoor unit. Close doors to rooms you are not using and keep the warmth where people are.
If you ever smell gas, leave the house first and call the gas utility from outside. Do not try to relight a pilot or operate switches until the area is safe.
Our approach to a heating repair
We begin by listening, since what you heard, smelled or saw often narrows the cause quickly. Then we test the system under real operating conditions, measure temperatures and electrical readings, and inspect safety controls and venting. You get a plain explanation and a clear description of the repair before any work begins.
Sometimes the honest conclusion is that an old wall or floor furnace has reached the point where repair no longer makes sense. Current Air District rules do not require replacing equipment that still works, so there is no deadline pushing you. When the time does come, a ductless heat pump is often a practical replacement for a single wall unit, and we can walk you through that option.
Neighboring cities we serve
The same mix of older and newer heating equipment shows up throughout the area, and our technicians repair it in Menlo Park, Atherton, Palo Alto, Mountain View and Los Altos Hills as well as East Palo Alto.
More services in East Palo Alto
- AC Repair in East Palo Alto
- Heat Pump Installation in East Palo Alto
- AC Installation in East Palo Alto
- Furnace Repair in East Palo Alto
