New Furnace & Heater Replacement in Orange County
Free Written Estimates · Same-Day & 24/7 Emergency Service

What Happens When You Call

1. You talk to a person. Tell us what the heater is doing, how old you think it is, and where it sits (attic, closet or garage). If there is no heat at all, say so and we treat it as urgent.
2. A licensed technician visits. Same-day service is available: call early and we'll get to you today in most cases. Emergency calls are answered 24/7. We check the furnace safely and tell you plainly what we find.
3. You get choices in writing. If a repair makes sense, we price it. If replacement makes more sense, we give you a free written estimate with two or three options. Nothing starts until you agree to the price.

Helping a parent with this? You are welcome to be on the phone or at the visit. We are happy to explain everything twice, and to send the estimate to you as well.

Call (714) 499-6656 Request a Free Estimate

Signs It May Be Time to Replace Your Furnace

None of these on its own means you need a home furnace replacement. Two or three together usually do.

• It is 15 to 20 years old or more. Furnaces in our mild climate often last longer than that, but parts get harder to find and each repair buys less time.
• The same parts keep failing. A second or third igniter, or an inducer motor (the small fan that pulls exhaust out through the flue) that keeps going, tells you the unit is wearing out as a whole.
• A yellow or flickering flame. A healthy gas flame is mostly blue. Yellow usually means the gas is not burning cleanly, which needs a look soon.
• Gas bills creeping up while your habits have not changed.
• Uneven heat. Some rooms warm, others cold, or the house never quite reaches the thermostat setting.
• Short cycling. The heater starts, runs a few minutes, shuts off, and starts again. That can be a simple fault or a furnace that is far too big for the house.
• A cracked heat exchanger. This is the one that matters most, so it gets its own section below.

Cracked Heat Exchanger and Carbon Monoxide, Explained Calmly

Inside every gas furnace, the flame burns inside a sealed metal chamber called the heat exchanger. Your house air flows over the outside of it and picks up the warmth. The burned gases stay inside and leave through the flue pipe.

After many years of heating up and cooling down, that metal can crack. A crack gives exhaust gases a path into the air that is blown through your home, and one of those gases is carbon monoxide, which you cannot see or smell. That is why a cracked heat exchanger is taken seriously.

Here is how we handle it. We only call a crack when we can show it to you, with a photo, a camera image or a combustion reading. If the furnace is not safe to run, we turn off its gas supply and explain why, and we help you stay warm while you decide. Replacing the heat exchanger alone is rarely sensible on an older furnace, so this is usually the point where a new furnace is the honest answer.

Whatever you decide, keep working carbon monoxide alarms near the bedrooms and test them. If an alarm sounds, get everyone outside and call 911 first, then call us.

Repair or Replace? An Honest Way to Decide

We fix a lot of furnaces that do not need replacing. An igniter on a nine-year-old heater is a repair, full stop. Here is the thinking we use, and you can use it too.

Repair usually makes sense when

The furnace is under about 12 to 15 years old, the heat exchanger is sound, and this is the first real failure. Igniters, flame sensors and even a blower motor are normal wear items. Fixing them is money well spent.

Replacement usually makes sense when

The furnace is 15 to 20 years old or more and needs a larger part such as an inducer or a variable-speed blower motor; it has had several repairs in a short time; or the heat exchanger is cracked. A good rough test: if the repair costs more than a third of a new furnace and the unit is past 15, put that money toward a replacement furnace instead.

If you are between the two, we tell you so, and we price both. Some people prefer to repair now and plan a replacement for spring. That is a perfectly reasonable choice.

80% vs 96% AFUE: Where Your Heat Goes

AFUE is the efficiency rating on a furnace. Think of it as cents on the dollar. An 80% furnace turns about 80 cents of every gas dollar into heat for your home, and the other 20 cents goes up the flue as hot exhaust. A 96% high efficiency furnace keeps about 96 cents and loses only about 4.

The 96% furnace does it with a second heat exchanger that pulls so much warmth out of the exhaust that water forms, the way a cold glass sweats. Two practical things follow. The exhaust is cool enough to leave through white plastic pipe instead of the metal flue, usually a pair of pipes out through a wall or the roof. And the unit makes water, so it needs a drain line, plus a safety switch that shuts it off if that drain ever backs up.

The 80% furnace keeps the simpler metal flue straight up through the roof and needs no drain. In many hallway closets and tight older attics, that makes it the cleaner, cheaper install.

Which is better for you? In Orange County we run the heater far fewer hours than people in cold states, so a 96% furnace pays for itself more slowly here. It is still worth it for many homes, especially larger ones or homes where someone is home all day in winter. We work out the rough yearly difference for your house instead of guessing.

Single-Stage, Two-Stage or Modulating?

This is about how the burner runs, and it affects comfort more than most people expect.

• Single-stage is on or off, full blast every time. Simple, affordable and reliable, though rooms can swing warm then cool.
• Two-stage idles along on low through a typical Orange County winter night, quietly and evenly, and steps up to high on the cold mornings. For most homes here, this is the sweet spot.
• Modulating adjusts in small steps, minute by minute. The steadiest and quietest, at the highest price; worth it if someone in the house feels the cold.

Pair any of them with a smart thermostat set up to match the furnace.

Getting the Size Right

A bigger furnace is not a better furnace. One that is too large heats the house in quick bursts, shuts off, and starts again. That short cycling wastes gas, wears the parts, and leaves cold corners because the air never has time to mix.

We size from a load calculation, which is a room-by-room estimate of how much heat your home loses on a cold night. It counts the square footage, windows, insulation, ceiling height and which way the house faces. It is common to find the original furnace was larger than the house ever needed, so the right new one is often smaller, and cheaper to run.

We also check the ductwork, because a new furnace pushing air through leaky or crushed ducts still leaves rooms cold. Any duct work is priced as its own line.

Attic, Closet and Garage Furnaces in Orange County Homes

Attic furnaces

Very common in single-storey tract homes. The furnace lies on its side on a platform. We check the access path, the walkway boards and the light and switch the code expects. A 96% furnace in the attic gets a drain pan underneath and a float switch, so a blocked drain shuts the heater off instead of staining your ceiling.

Hallway closet furnaces

Found in many older homes and condos. The furnace stands upright and blows air up into the ducts. Space is tight, the closet needs enough fresh air for the burner, and the vent route decides whether a 96% model is practical. We measure all of it at the estimate so there are no surprises on install day.

Garage furnaces

Usually the easiest to reach and work on. Code requires the burner to sit raised above the garage floor and protected from a car bumping it, and we set the new unit to meet that.

Not Sure About Gas? A Heat Pump Also Cools

A heat pump is an electric system that heats AND cools. In winter it pulls warmth from the outdoor air and brings it inside; in summer it runs the other way as an air conditioner. Our winters are mild, which is exactly where heat pumps shine. If your home has no AC today, a heat pump turns a heating replacement into heating and cooling in one project.

There is a middle path too, called dual-fuel: a heat pump does most of the heating and all the cooling, and a gas furnace stays as backup for the coldest mornings. Utility and state incentives for heat pumps change often, so we check what currently applies to your address when we write the estimate. The FAQ below weighs gas against a heat pump, and our heat pump installation page covers the equipment.

Older Homes With Wall or Floor Furnaces

Plenty of postwar homes in Anaheim, Orange, Garden Grove and the older parts of the county still heat with a wall furnace in the hallway or a floor furnace under a grate. They work with no ducts at all, which is also their limit: one warm spot and cool bedrooms.

When one of these stops, we check it first and repair it where it is safe and parts exist. When it is time to replace it, the usual choices are a new wall unit, a ductless mini-split heat pump that heats and cools room by room, or a full ducted system. We walk you through what each costs and how it would look in your home.

No heat on a cold night, or a gas smell? That is an emergency. Leave the house if you smell gas and call the gas company or 911 from outside. For a heater that simply quit, call our 24-hour emergency service line.

Call (714) 499-6656

The Electrical Side: Blowers Now, AC or a Heat Pump Later

Most new furnaces use a variable-speed blower motor, the fan that moves air through the house. It is quieter and uses less electricity than the old type, and it wants a clean, properly grounded circuit. We check the circuit, the breaker and the service switch beside the furnace on every job, and fix what needs fixing.

Thinking of adding air conditioning, or switching to a heat pump in a few years? The outdoor unit needs its own 240-volt circuit. If the panel is full or at its limit, the next step is a subpanel or an electrical panel upgrade to 200 amps, and that step is ours under our C-10 electrical licence.

One tip when you replace the furnace: we can size the blower and ductwork now for the AC or heat pump you may add later, so that second step is simpler and cheaper.

Furnace Installation Cost in Orange County, 2026

Typical ranges, so you can compare a repair with a replacement. Your exact price comes from a free written estimate and does not change once you have agreed to it.

0% financing on approved credit through our financing options. We accept credit card, check, Zelle and cash. We do not service water heaters or tankless water heaters of any brand.

Permits, Title 24 and Gas Safety Checks

Every furnace replacement we do is permitted. We pull the permit from your city under our own licence, and a city inspector signs off the finished work. That protects you when you sell the house and when you file any insurance claim.

California's Title 24 energy rules come with the job. In most homes that means testing the ducts for leaks, with independent verification where the rules call for it. We arrange it and fix leaks we find.

On the gas and venting side we fit a new gas connector and shut-off, check the gas line for leaks, set the gas pressure to the maker's figure, confirm the flue or plastic vent pipes draw properly, and measure carbon monoxide in the exhaust and in the room. You get a heater that is not only running but burning cleanly.

We are licensed under California contractor licence #1108650 (C-20 heating and air conditioning, C-10 electrical) and EPA 608 certified. Please check us at cslb.ca.gov before you book, and check any other company you are considering too. More on our team's training on the certified technician page.

What Install Day Looks Like

1. We arrive at the agreed time, lay floor covers and protect the path to the furnace.
2. We turn off the gas and power to the old heater and remove it.
3. The new furnace goes in, with new gas connector, venting, drain line if it is a 96% model, and wiring.
4. We start it up and test it: gas pressure, flame, carbon monoxide, airflow, and the temperature rise across the furnace.
5. We set up the thermostat, show you how to change the filter, and haul the old unit away.
6. The city inspection is booked for a later date, and we meet the inspector.

A straight replacement is usually done in one day, and you have heat again that evening. If we are moving the furnace or changing its venting, we tell you the extra time in the estimate.

Call (714) 499-6656

Furnace Replacement Across Orange County

We work out of a shop on Newhope Street in Fountain Valley. Drive times below are rough and assume ordinary traffic; the 405 and the 22 at rush hour add their share.

• Fountain Valley, 5 to 10 minutes. Our home town, mostly 1960s and 1970s tract houses with the furnace in the attic or a hallway closet.
• Furnace installation in Garden Grove, about 12 minutes. Lots of single-storey postwar homes. Attics there can be low, so we measure the access before choosing a model.
• Furnace installation in Santa Ana. The city shares a border with Fountain Valley. In older districts such as Floral Park and French Park you still find closet and floor furnaces with awkward vent routes, next to newer tracts.
• Furnace installation in Anaheim, about 20 minutes. Anaheim has its own city electric utility, so if you are weighing a gas furnace against a heat pump there, the incentives and rates we look up differ from the rest of the county.
• Furnace installation in Orange, about 20 minutes. Around Old Towne the houses are older and the furnace closets are often small; we plan the vent route with the look of the house in mind.

If the heater only needs a fix, start with furnace repair in Orange County. If you want cooling as well, compare a heat pump with our AC replacement options.

Request a Free Estimate

Furnace Replacement Questions