Furnaces & Hydronic Heating
Warmth that arrives quietly.
Southern California winters are gentle, but the cool mornings and chilly evenings are real. A well-chosen furnace or hydronic system fills your home with steady, even warmth, without drafts, noise or cold corners.
How a gas furnace works
Inside the furnace, a burner heats a sealed metal chamber called the heat exchanger. The combustion gases stay inside it and leave your home through a vent pipe. Meanwhile, your home's air flows over the outside of the hot exchanger, picks up its warmth, and travels through your ducts to each room.
The heat exchanger is the heart of the furnace, and the reason a yearly safety check matters: it is the barrier between the air you breathe and the combustion gases.
Comfort you can feel
Single-stage
Runs at full heat every time it switches on. Rooms warm quickly, then cool, then warm again.
Two-stage
Runs on a lower, quieter setting most of the time and steps up only on the coldest days. Temperatures stay steadier and the warm air mixes more evenly from floor to ceiling.
Variable-speed blowers
Adjust airflow continuously to what your home needs. They are the quietest option, use far less electricity than older blower motors, and improve your air conditioning in summer too, since the same blower moves the cooled air.
AFUE
Efficiency and what is changing
A furnace's efficiency is its AFUE rating. An 80% AFUE furnace turns 80 cents of every gas dollar into heat for your home; the rest leaves through the vent. High-efficiency "condensing" furnaces reach 90% and above by capturing extra heat from their exhaust.
A federal rule will require new gas furnaces made from December 2028 onward to reach 95% AFUE, which in practice means condensing models only. Condensing furnaces need a condensate drain and different venting, so we will tell you what your home needs if you are planning ahead.
In our mild climate, the higher price of a top-efficiency furnace takes longer to pay back than it would in a cold state. We will show you the numbers for your home and, where it makes sense, compare the cost of running a heat pump instead.
New gas furnaces sold in our region must also meet the strict low-emission limits set by the South Coast Air Quality Management District, so a new furnace is cleaner for the neighborhood as well as more efficient.
Hydronic and radiant heating
Hydronic systems heat water in a boiler and circulate it to radiators, baseboard convectors or tubing set into the floor. The warmth radiates gently into the room, with no blowing air and no dust carried along with it. Many people find it the most comfortable heat of all.
We service and replace boilers and hydronic systems in homes built around them, and can advise on radiant floor heating as part of a remodel. Converting a hydronic home to forced air means adding ductwork, which is costly, so we usually recommend staying with the system your home was designed for.
Safety comes first
Every furnace we service gets a thorough safety check: the heat exchanger for cracks, the burners and ignition, the vent and flue, gas pressure, the safety limit switch, and a carbon monoxide test.
California requires carbon monoxide alarms in homes with gas appliances. If yours are missing or out of date, we will point it out.
If you ever notice soot, rust or scorch marks around your furnace, or a flame that burns yellow instead of blue, switch it off and call us before using it again.
Signs it may be time
- Your furnace is more than 15 to 20 years old.
- Some rooms stay cold while others overheat.
- It switches on and off frequently, or makes new noises.
- You notice dust, dry air or unusual smells when it runs.
- Repairs are becoming a yearly event.
2028 furnace standard per the U.S. Department of Energy final rule. Emission limits per South Coast AQMD Rule 1111.
Ready for warmer, quieter winters?
We will help you choose what fits your home.