What it costs, when to repair, when to replace, and how to keep it alive. Written by the people who answer the phone.
Most repairs land between $150 and $600 depending on the part and how deep in the system it sits — a capacitor or contactor is at the low end, a blower motor or coil at the high end. You get the number before anything is turned, in writing, and the price does not change because it is a Saturday.
Yes — a technician’s time and instruments are how you find out what is actually wrong instead of guessing. Ask dispatch for the current fee when you book so there is no surprise at the door. Comfort Club members do not pay after-hours premiums.
Usually, yes. Spring and fall are when we have the schedule to plan an install properly, and manufacturer promotions tend to land then. Replacing in the middle of a July emergency costs more because it is an emergency, not because we charge differently.
Yes. Repairs, air-quality equipment and full systems can all be financed — in-house plans approved by us, or partner lenders with terms up to 15 years. Wisetack shows options on a soft credit pull, so looking does not touch your score.
Our heat is hard on equipment. Twelve to fifteen years is a normal life here, and fifteen to twenty is realistic for a system that got a tune-up twice a year and had its filters changed. A neglected system can be finished at ten.
Not automatically. We weigh the age, the cost of the repair in front of us, the refrigerant it uses and what it is costing you monthly. If a $400 repair buys three more summers, we will tell you to make the repair — our technicians are paid the same either way.
R-22 has not been produced or imported since 2020, so systems that use it depend on a shrinking supply of reclaimed refrigerant, and a leak gets expensive fast. If your system is on R-22 and needs a significant repair, replacement is usually the better spend.
Rarely. Modern outdoor units are matched to a specific indoor coil and blower to hit their rated efficiency. Mixing an old coil with a new condenser gives up the efficiency you paid for and can void the warranty.
A Manual J load calculation — square footage, orientation, window area, insulation, duct condition and infiltration. Not “what was here before,” because oversized systems short-cycle: they cool the air without running long enough to pull the humidity out, and you get a house that is cold and clammy.
Yes. Equipment replacement requires a mechanical permit, we pull it, and we schedule the inspection. A quote that skips the permit is not cheaper — it is a problem you inherit when you sell the house.
A straight changeout is typically one day. Add time when ductwork, electrical, a new pad or an attic access problem is involved — your technician will tell you which of those applies before you sign anything.
SEER2 is the current efficiency rating, measured under conditions closer to how equipment actually runs. Higher is cheaper to operate, but the payback depends on your runtime hours — in San Antonio, where the system runs most of the year, the higher tiers make sense far more often than they do up north.
Every 30 to 90 days. A one-inch pleated filter in a house with pets and cedar season is a 30-day filter; a media cabinet can go longer. A loaded filter starves airflow, ices the coil and eventually kills the compressor — it is the cheapest failure to prevent.
Twice a year: cooling before the heat arrives, heating before the first cold snap. Most of what we find on a maintenance visit is cheap to fix in April and expensive to fix in August.
Most often airflow — a loaded filter, a frozen coil, a failing blower — or the outdoor unit: a dead capacitor, a failed contactor, low refrigerant from a leak. Turn the system off if the coil is iced, and call before it runs long enough to damage the compressor.
A healthy system delivers air about 15 to 20 degrees cooler than the air going into the return. In peak heat it will run longer, but the split should still be there. Less than that means airflow or refrigerant, and both get worse if ignored.
Yes — holidays, weekends and the middle of the night. Dispatch runs from 6510 Blanco Road, and the after-hours line reaches the same people, not an answering service in another state.
Forty towns across Bexar, Comal, Guadalupe, Kendall, Wilson and Medina counties. Every town has its own page listing what we do there.
Yes. We are an authorized Trane dealer and Comfort Specialist, and we service and maintain every major brand — so you are never told a working system has to be replaced just because of the badge on it.
Priority scheduling when every crew in the county is booked, no after-hours premium, maintenance visits tracked for you, and a discount on repairs — for $24.99 a month. In August, the priority is the part that matters.
