When heating or cooling fails in San Leandro, the first question is whether the situation is dangerous. A gas smell, a carbon monoxide alarm or smoke from the equipment are safety emergencies that start with leaving the house. No heat with a newborn at home, water coming through a ceiling or a breaker that keeps tripping are urgent repair calls. A noisy fan or one warm bedroom can usually wait for a regular appointment.
First call 911 or the gas utility
- You smell gas (rotten eggs or sulfur). Do not switch lights or appliances on or off, do not light anything and do not try to restart the furnace. Get everyone out, then call the gas utility or 911 from outside.
- The carbon monoxide alarm sounds. Get everyone into fresh air and call 911, right away if anyone has a headache, dizziness, nausea or unusual sleepiness. Carbon monoxide has no smell, so treat the alarm as real. Do not go back in or run gas appliances until responders say it is safe.
- Smoke, sparks or flames from the equipment. Leave and call 911. If there is only a hot electrical or burning-plastic smell, switch the system off at the thermostat and the breaker, then call us.
Once the house is cleared, call us so the cause is fixed before the equipment runs again. A brief dusty smell when the furnace first runs in the fall is normal; a smell that lasts or gets stronger is not.
Urgent: call us and do this while you wait
| Situation | What to do right now |
|---|---|
| Water leaking from the indoor unit or through a ceiling | Turn the system off at the thermostat, and off at its breaker if water is near wiring. Catch the water and keep people out from under a sagging ceiling. |
| Breaker trips when the system starts | Reset it once. If it trips again, leave it off: repeated resets can damage a motor or compressor. |
| No heat with a baby, an older adult or someone ill at home | Run the quick checks below. Use electric space heaters plugged straight into a wall outlet, with clear space around them. Never heat the house with a gas oven, stove or grill. |
| No cooling in a heat wave with someone vulnerable at home | If the outdoor unit hums but its fan does not spin, turn the system off. Close blinds on the sunny side, use fans and move people to the coolest room. |
| Ice on the indoor coil or copper line | Set the thermostat to Off and the fan to On so the ice melts before the technician arrives. |
Quick checks when nothing is unsafe
- The thermostat is on Heat or Cool, set past room temperature.
- The furnace’s service switch (it looks like a light switch near the unit) and the breakers are on, and the furnace door panel is fully closed; many furnaces will not run with it off.
- The filter is not clogged. A blocked filter can make a furnace overheat and shut down, or an AC coil freeze.
What to tell us when you call
- No cooling: what the thermostat shows, whether the indoor fan and the outdoor unit run, the breaker position, the last filter change and any water around the indoor unit.
- No heat: whether the furnace tries to light, whether you hear the inducer fan or blower, any flashing code on the control board, and whether other gas appliances work.
- Access: where the equipment is (attic, garage, closet, crawlspace), parking or gate details, and the model number if you can read it safely.
How fast help comes
Phone support is available 24/7: call at any hour for guidance on whether to shut the system down and what is safe to do in the meantime. Same-day service is usually possible when you call before noon. Technicians work Monday to Friday 8 AM–6 PM, Saturday 9 AM–5 PM and Sunday 10 AM–4 PM; after hours, we book the first available visit. A small service area keeps drive times short.
What an emergency repair costs
Most emergency repairs fall between $99 and $500, at regular rates: no overtime charges and no extra fee for a weekend visit during our Saturday and Sunday hours. A failed capacitor, fuse, thermostat or condensate drain switch sits at the low end and is often fixed on the first visit. A blower motor, compressor, refrigerant leak or heat exchanger concern is a bigger job, and some parts may need to be ordered. You see the price before work starts, the diagnostic fee is waived when you go ahead with the repair, and repairs carry a 90-day warranty.
Fix it now, decide on replacement later
An emergency visit should restore safe operation, not push a replacement decision while the house is cold. If an older system keeps failing, the quote covers both the fix and the longer-term risk, and our guides on furnace repair vs. replacement and AC repair vs. replacement help you decide later. One exception: a furnace with a cracked heat exchanger should not be run, because it can leak combustion gases into the air you breathe.
Local notes
Late-summer and early-fall heat finds the air conditioners that sat idle for months (AC not cooling); cold snaps between November and March bring ignition and flame-sensor faults (furnace not heating). If your home has gas appliances and no carbon monoxide alarms near the bedrooms, add them.