Keeping you comfortable in any season.

For a typical residential furnace or AC, swapping a 1-inch pleated filter every 60-90 days during the season can add three to five years to the life of the blower motor — and even longer for the heat exchanger. The reason is dust loading: a clogged filter forces the blower to work harder, which heats the motor windings and shortens their life. On a high-MERV filter for a tight house, the interval is closer to 90 days. On a 4-inch media filter, you can go six months to a year.

If you can’t remember the last time you changed yours, you’re due. We sell + install higher-end media filters that need replacing less often if you’d rather think about it once a year.

For short trips (under a week), set back about 7-10 degrees from your normal setting — so 60-62°F in winter, 80°F in summer. Don’t turn it off completely, especially in winter. In Idaho a sub-freezing snap can burst pipes if the house drops below 50°F.

For longer absences (week+), a smart thermostat with geofencing is worth the install. Or just leave it at the setback temp and let the system idle. Re-heating a cold house costs more than the savings from cycling the unit off.

The honest rule of thumb: if the unit is older than fifteen years AND the repair quote is more than half the cost of a new system, replace it. If it’s twelve to fifteen years and the repair is under a third of replacement, repair it. Anything younger than twelve years is almost always worth fixing.

That said, the right answer depends on the specific failure — a cracked heat exchanger or a failed control board on an old unit changes the math. Larry will walk you through what’s broken, what it costs to fix vs. replace, and what the rest of the system probably has left in it. No high-pressure replacement pitch.

Heating system — once a year, ideally in early fall (September to mid-October) before you fire it up for the season. Cooling system — once a year in spring (April to early May) before the first hot week. Catching a weak capacitor or a low refrigerant charge during a tune-up costs $150 instead of $500 when the unit dies on a 95° afternoon.

We offer annual service agreements that bundle both visits and discount any repairs found during them. Not a sales pitch — just cheaper than a single emergency call.

Yes — no-heat in winter or no-AC during a heat advisory gets prioritized regardless of the time. Larry takes the call directly and we charge a flat after-hours rate (no escalating dispatch fees, no doubled labor). For everything else, normal business hours are weekdays 8am to 6pm.

Free, written, no obligation. Larry will walk the system, ask what your real budget looks like, and lay out the options — including the option to not do anything yet. We don’t work on commission. If the right answer for your house is “your unit has another five years in it, save the money,” that’s what we’ll tell you.