Fast, Reliable Heating & Furnace Across San Francisco
Heating & furnace repair in San Francisco typically runs $175–$825, replacement jobs range from $4,130–$8,850, and most service calls to the Mission, Nob Hill, or SoMa can be scheduled same day. If your wall furnace quit last night or your new master-planned home’s builder-grade unit can’t keep up with the marine-layer chill, call us at (844) 560-6978 for a free estimate.
We’re Crestview Heating & Air California, and our Heating & Furnace team makes the trip up from San Jose to San Francisco regularly. Owner Marcus Feldman still manages jobs in the field, so when we dispatch to a Victorian flat in the Mission or a concrete mid-rise in SoMa, you’re getting nearly two decades of HVAC experience, not a rotating cast of subcontractors. San Francisco’s heating landscape is unlike anywhere else in the Bay Area, and that’s not marketing fluff. It’s the reality of 110-year-old row houses with no ductwork, fog-zone micro-climates that fool standard load calculations, and a wave of newer construction where the builder’s spec furnace was never meant to handle this city’s specific demands.
Why Crestview Heating & Air California Is San Francisco’s Preferred Heating & Furnace Company
Our 4.8-star average across 250+ customer reviews didn’t come from easy jobs. It came from showing up to San Francisco homes where the previous company walked away. We’ve routed mini-split lines through horsehair plaster in Edwardian flats on Guerrero Street. We’ve engineered seismic bracing for furnace replacements in SoMa concrete buildings where California’s CBC requirements add complexity most suburban HVAC shops have never encountered. Marcus Feldman oversees every job as both owner and Service Manager, so accountability stops with him, not a dispatcher you’ll never meet.
San Francisco customers call us because we don’t flinch at systems other companies won’t touch. Your system, our specialty, whether it’s a 1920s Williams wall furnace with discontinued parts or a Lennox unit in a new Marina District townhouse. From emergency calls to commercial buildouts, we’ve handled it. And when we say we serve San Francisco, we mean the specific ZIPs, the specific building types, the specific headaches this city throws at heating equipment.
Our Heating & Furnace Services in San Francisco
Furnace Repair
Furnace repair in San Francisco often isn’t a simple ignitor swap. In the Tenderloin and Nob Hill, we regularly find original Empire or Williams wall furnaces where the heat exchanger has cracked and replacement parts haven’t been manufactured in over a decade. We’ll diagnose honestly, tell you if repair is feasible, and if it’s not, we’ll quote a replacement path that works for your building. Most repairs in San Francisco fall between $175–$825 depending on part availability and access.
Furnace Replacement
Replacement is where San Francisco gets interesting. Victorian and Edwardian row houses in ZIPs 94102–94110 have no duct chases, minimal attic clearance, and balloon-frame construction that complicates every routing decision. We specialize in ductless mini-split conversions that eliminate the need for ductwork entirely, installing multi-head systems that heat individual rooms without tearing apart historic plaster. For newer master-planned homes in San Francisco’s developing areas, we replace builder-grade furnaces with properly sized equipment that accounts for the marine layer’s persistent moisture and the R-13 insulation that bleeds heat faster than the builder promised.
Furnace Tune-Up
A furnace tune-up in San Francisco costs $95–$235 and should happen annually, ideally before the October fog thickens. In the Mission and SoMa, where micro-climate swings force furnaces to cycle harder than equipment in fog-locked Richmond, we inspect heat exchangers for corrosion from salt air, test gas pressure at the valve, and check for seismic bracket loosening that California’s codes require but earthquakes gradually undo. For newer homes, we verify that the builder’s original install wasn’t undersized for actual San Francisco conditions.
Heat Exchanger Inspection & Replacement
Cracked heat exchangers are a safety issue we never downplay. In San Francisco’s older housing stock, we find them regularly in wall furnaces that have run 40+ years. Because replacement heat exchangers for Williams and Empire units are unobtainable, this diagnosis often triggers a full system redesign conversation. We’ll explain the CO risk plainly, show you the crack with a borescope camera, and walk through options that respect your building’s constraints. No pressure, no upsell, just the facts from a technician who answers to the owner.
What happens when you call
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A real person answersNo phone trees — you reach a local pro.
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You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
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A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
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You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Trusted Brands We Service in San Francisco
We maintain factory-trained compatibility across nine major brands, and for San Francisco customers, we stock common parts for Trane, Lennox, Goodman, and Rheem to minimize wait times. That matters when your furnace fails during a December cold snap and every day without heat means moisture damage inside plaster walls that won’t dry until April. We don’t tell you “we don’t work on that.” Your system, our specialty. Whether it’s a 15-year-old Goodman in a Visitacion Valley bungalow or a high-efficiency Lennox in a new South Beach condo, we’ve got the training and parts to fix it fast.
Common Heating & Furnace Problems We See in San Francisco Homes
- Discontinued wall furnace parts: Williams and Empire gas wall furnaces from the 1920s through 1960s still heat thousands of Edwardian flats in the Tenderloin, Nob Hill, and Mission. When the ignitor or heat exchanger fails, no replacement exists. We designed a ductless mini-split system for an 1895 flat on Guerrero Street in the Mission (94110) where the original wall furnace had a cracked heat exchanger. Three indoor heads, refrigerant lines routed through horsehair-plaster walls, zero-clearance attic. The job cost $7,200 and eliminated ductwork entirely.
- Seismic retrofitting costs in concrete mid-rises: SoMa’s converted warehouse lofts and concrete mid-rises in ZIPs 94103 and 94107 require CBC-compliant bracing under California’s seismic codes. This adds $600–$1,200 to a standard furnace replacement, an engineering cost rarely enforced at this level in suburban markets.
- R-value deficiency in newer master-planned homes: San Francisco’s fog-zone marine layer punishes builder-grade insulation. New developments with R-13 walls and R-30 attics lose heat twice as fast as designed, forcing furnaces to cycle constantly and fail prematurely. We see this in master-planned communities where the spec furnace was sized for Sacramento, not San Francisco’s actual thermal load.
- Micro-climate miscalculation: A furnace properly sized for a fog-bound Richmond District flat will be dangerously undersized for a Mission District home that hits 95°F in September and drops to 45°F by January. San Francisco’s documented 15–20°F neighborhood variation within a single afternoon makes load calculations unusually location-sensitive, even within one ZIP code.
Pricing for Heating & Furnace in San Francisco, CA
Here’s what San Francisco homeowners actually pay:
| Service | Typical Range in San Francisco |
|---|---|
| Furnace Repair | $175–$825 |
| Furnace Replacement | $4,130–$8,850 |
| Furnace Tune-Up | $95–$235 |
Replacement costs spike higher in San Francisco than San Jose for specific, documentable reasons. Historic homes need ductless mini-split conversions instead of straightforward swaps. Concrete mid-rises need seismic engineering. And master-planned homes need proper load recalculation because the original install was wrong for this climate. We quote upfront, itemize where code requirements add cost, and never push replacement when repair is honest. Call (844) 560-6978 for a free estimate that accounts for your specific building, not a generic template.
We Also Serve Cities Near San Francisco
Our service radius extends throughout the peninsula and includes the Mission District, Noe Valley, Chinatown, and Visitacion Valley. Whether you’re in a Chinatown walk-up with a failing wall furnace or a Noe Valley Victorian needing a full system redesign, we make the trip with the same owner-managed accountability we bring to every job.
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 — Heating & Furnace in San Francisco
You usually can’t, and we won’t pretend otherwise. San Francisco’s Victorian and Edwardian row houses lack duct chases, accessible attics, and the structural pathways forced-air systems require. We recommend ductless mini-split conversions instead, routing refrigerant lines through exterior walls or tight crawl spaces. Call (844) 560-6978 and we’ll assess your specific layout, no charge.
Micro-climate exposure and likely undersizing. The Mission (94110) experiences wider temperature swings than fog-locked neighborhoods, and if your furnace was sized for average San Francisco conditions, it’s working overtime. We also find that salt air corrosion degrades heat exchangers faster here than inland. A tune-up with combustion analysis will tell us if it’s a sizing, maintenance, or equipment-failure issue. Estimates are free.
Concrete mid-rises and converted lofts in SoMa (94103, 94107) require CBC-compliant seismic bracing for all HVAC equipment under California’s adopted ASCE 7 standards. This typically adds $600–$1,200 to replacement cost, covers engineering documentation, and is enforced more stringently in San Francisco than in surrounding counties. We handle the permitting and bracing design as part of our replacement service.
If you’re cycling constantly or rooms heat unevenly, yes. Builder-grade furnaces in San Francisco’s newer developments are often undersized for the marine layer’s actual thermal load and paired with R-13 insulation that loses heat faster than spec sheets assume. We’ve replaced dozens of these units in master-planned communities where the original equipment failed within 5–7 years. A proper load calculation and rightsized replacement pays for itself in efficiency and longevity. Call for a free assessment.
Annually, ideally in September before the marine layer thickens. Salt air corrosion, seismic vibration loosening brackets, and the city’s unique cycling demands make yearly inspection more critical here than in drier inland climates. Our $95–$235 tune-up includes heat exchanger inspection, gas valve pressure test, and combustion analysis. Schedule at (844) 560-6978.
Ready to get your San Francisco home’s heating fixed right? Call (844) 560-6978 now for a free estimate. Owner Marcus Feldman oversees every job personally, and we’ve got nearly two decades of experience with the specific headaches this city’s buildings throw at HVAC equipment. From emergency wall-furnace failures in the Mission to seismic-compliant replacements in SoMa, we’ll give you an honest diagnosis and a price that doesn’t change after we start.
Written by Marcus Feldman, Owner at Crestview Heating & Air California, serving San Francisco since 2006.