Do you actually drive out to Los Gatos, or is that too far from San Ramon?

Los Gatos is a regular service area for us. San Ramon is our base, and we run the full South Bay including Los Gatos on scheduled calls. It is about 45 minutes from the shop depending on traffic on 680 and 85. We do not subcontract the work out to a local tech, the same licensed technician handles the job start to finish.

My house is an older home up in the Los Gatos hills with no existing ductwork. Is a Tempstar system even the right fit, or should I be looking at something else?

If there are no ducts and you do not want to tear into walls and ceilings to install them, a ductless mini-split is the straightforward answer. Tempstar makes a ductless line, but honestly for a hill home in Los Gatos where you might be heating and cooling two or three separate zones with different sun exposure, we would talk through the full picture at the estimate rather than push a brand. If you already have a ducted Tempstar system in a flat-floor portion of the house, servicing and extending that is practical since the Carrier-platform parts are well-supported.

What does the $75 diagnostic actually include, and what kind of warranty do I get on the repair?

The $75 covers a full system diagnostic: I read the fault codes off the board, run the unit through its operating sequence, take electrical measurements on the relevant components, and give you a specific cause and a written quote before anything is replaced. If you move forward with the repair that same visit, the $75 is credited against the job, so you pay nothing extra for the diagnosis. Work we complete carries a one-year warranty covering both parts and labor, so if the same issue returns within that window, we come back at no charge.

TEMPSTAR · LOS GATOS

Service · All Tempstar Models

Tempstar Heat Pump, AC & Furnace Repair · Los Gatos, CA

Tempstar heat pump, AC, and furnace repair in Los Gatos, where hillside homes and inland valley heat push older systems hard.

$75 diagnostic (waived with repair)
Same or next-day best effort
CSLB #1136642

Call (925) 999-4095

Tempstar in Los Gatos

Tempstar heating and cooling in Los Gatos.

Los Gatos sits at the edge of the Santa Cruz Mountains, and the housing stock reflects that layered history. The older bungalows and craftsman homes up toward the hills often have no central ductwork at all, while the mid-century ranch tracts on the valley floor were built with ducted gas furnaces and add-on AC condensers that are now 20 to 30 years old. Tempstar shows up frequently in that second category: a homeowner bought a unit a decade or more back through an independent contractor, it ran fine for years, and now something specific has stopped working. The inland position means summer heat is real here, not coastal-mild, so when a heat pump or condenser goes down in July, it is not a nuisance call.

When I pull a Tempstar unit, the first step is reading the board fault codes before touching anything else. Tempstar runs on the same Carrier platform as Heil and Comfortmaker, so the diagnostic logic is identical and the failure modes are predictable. I check the igniter resistance on furnaces before condemning a control board, because a cracked hot surface igniter reads intermittently good on a cold ohm check and only fails under operating heat. On heat pumps and condensers, I log refrigerant pressures and measure capacitor microfarads under load rather than swapping parts on a guess. One thing I watch closely in Los Gatos specifically: units installed close to the ground in the foothills accumulate debris from oak and redwood drop, and that material packs into condenser coils and inducer housings faster than people expect.

Bay Area HVAC Service is our HVAC division, operating out of San Ramon. The diagnostic fee is $75, and that charge is waived if you proceed with the repair on the same visit. Before any work starts you get a written, itemized quote, nothing begins without your sign-off. Our technicians hold EPA Section 608 Universal certification. The company is licensed with the California Contractors State License Board under CSLB 1136642. Repairs carry a one-year warranty on parts and labor. If you are looking at a full replacement, installations come with a 10-year parts and 10-year labor warranty, and we confirm whatever utility or manufacturer rebates actually apply at the time of the estimate.

Common repairs we do

What we close on the truck.

Hot Surface Igniter Failure on Tempstar Gas Furnaces. The hot surface igniter is the most common single-point failure on Tempstar furnaces running in the Los Gatos foothill climate, where cold overnight temperatures in winter push the furnace into frequent short cycles. The symptom is a furnace that starts the ignition sequence, the inducer runs, you hear the gas valve open, but there is no flame and the board locks out after two or three tries. I measure the igniter resistance cold, but more importantly I watch the element visually during the ignition trial because a hairline crack only opens under thermal expansion. Replacement is straightforward since Tempstar shares igniter part numbers across the Carrier family, and parts availability is not a problem.
Flame Sensor Carbon Buildup Causing Nuisance Lockouts. A fouled flame sensor is the second thing I check on any Tempstar furnace that lights, runs for a few seconds, then shuts down repeatedly. The sensor rod accumulates a thin oxide layer over seasons of use, and that insulating film raises the microamp signal threshold until the board can no longer confirm a valid flame and pulls the gas valve. On units in Los Gatos homes that see heavier humidity from coastal marine layer pushing inland overnight, the oxidation cycle can accelerate. The fix is a careful cleaning of the rod with fine steel wool followed by a confirmed microamp reading in the normal operating range, which on these boards is typically 2 to 4 microamps under steady fire.
Capacitor and Contactor Wear on Outdoor Heat Pump Units. Tempstar heat pump condensers in the Los Gatos valley see a real cooling season, and the run capacitor and contactor take cumulative wear from that load. A failing run capacitor shows up as a unit that hums at startup but trips the breaker or runs at reduced efficiency with elevated amperage draw on the compressor. A pitted contactor causes inconsistent starting and in some cases arcing that feeds back to the thermostat wiring. I measure capacitance with the unit under load, not only with a standalone meter at ambient temperature, and I inspect the contactor face for pitting before the unit is reassembled, because replacing only the capacitor and leaving a marginal contactor means a callback in one more season.

Models we service

Tempstar product lines.

Gas furnaces (Ion and QuietComfort series)
Heat pumps and AC condensers
Variable-speed communicating systems
Air handlers and coils
Diagnostics, board and igniter repair, warranty work

Pricing and warranty

What it costs. What we stand behind.

$75

Diagnostic visit. Waived when you book the repair with us.
Written

90 days on consumables, 1 year on major parts, 2 years on sealed-system rebuilds. Quoted in writing before work starts.
CSLB

#1136642. Bonded and insured. We file warranty paperwork when applicable.

Nearby cities

Tempstar service in neighboring cities.

FAQ

Tempstar in Los Gatos questions, answered.

Do you actually drive out to Los Gatos, or is that too far from San Ramon?

Los Gatos is a regular service area for us. San Ramon is our base, and we run the full South Bay including Los Gatos on scheduled calls. It is about 45 minutes from the shop depending on traffic on 680 and 85. We do not subcontract the work out to a local tech, the same licensed technician handles the job start to finish.
My house is an older home up in the Los Gatos hills with no existing ductwork. Is a Tempstar system even the right fit, or should I be looking at something else?

If there are no ducts and you do not want to tear into walls and ceilings to install them, a ductless mini-split is the straightforward answer. Tempstar makes a ductless line, but honestly for a hill home in Los Gatos where you might be heating and cooling two or three separate zones with different sun exposure, we would talk through the full picture at the estimate rather than push a brand. If you already have a ducted Tempstar system in a flat-floor portion of the house, servicing and extending that is practical since the Carrier-platform parts are well-supported.
What does the $75 diagnostic actually include, and what kind of warranty do I get on the repair?

The $75 covers a full system diagnostic: I read the fault codes off the board, run the unit through its operating sequence, take electrical measurements on the relevant components, and give you a specific cause and a written quote before anything is replaced. If you move forward with the repair that same visit, the $75 is credited against the job, so you pay nothing extra for the diagnosis. Work we complete carries a one-year warranty covering both parts and labor, so if the same issue returns within that window, we come back at no charge.

Need Tempstar service in Los Gatos?

Tell us what is broken. We will quote it.