When to treat it as an emergency
- Indoor temperature above 85 degrees with a baby, someone over 65, or someone with heart or breathing problems in the home
- No heat with an overnight low below 32 degrees, which puts pipes in exterior walls and crawlspaces at risk
- Water pouring from an attic air handler through a ceiling
- A burning smell, smoke or sparking from any HVAC equipment (turn off the breaker first)
- A carbon monoxide alarm (leave the house and call 911 before anything else)
How urgent calls work
Phones answered 7 am to 9 pm, seven days a week. During those hours we send a licensed technician who takes urgent calls, and many of them work evenings and weekends in July, August and January. Expect an after-hours or weekend trip charge of roughly $100 to $250 on top of the repair. The technician should tell you that fee on the phone before sending a truck.
If the technician cannot come until morning, ask what you can do tonight. The advice depends on the symptom. For a frozen coil it is usually to turn the system off so the ice can melt. For a heat pump that quit in winter it is often to switch the thermostat to emergency heat.
Keeping the house safe until the tech arrives
In summer, close the blinds on the south and west sides, run ceiling fans and keep people and pets on the lowest floor. A portable AC or a box fan in one bedroom keeps one room livable for a night.
In winter, open the cabinet doors under sinks on outside walls and let those faucets drip. Space heaters work for a night if you keep them three feet from anything that can burn and plug them straight into the wall, never into an extension cord.
Questions
Do emergency calls cost more?
Usually. Technicians add an after-hours or weekend trip fee, commonly $100 to $250. The repair itself is often priced the same as on a weekday. Ask for both numbers before the tech drives out.
What counts as an emergency?
Loss of heat below freezing, loss of cooling above 85 degrees indoors with vulnerable people in the house, water leaking through a ceiling, and any burning or gas smell. Other problems can usually wait for a daytime visit, which costs less.