Gary’s Furnace Service

Yoshi (owner/​operator/​repairman) is the guy. Great communication in setting up appoint. On time (early actually) and quickly diagnosed and fixed the furnace. No BS. Just went to work and delivered the fix at a very fair price. If you live in Los Altos, Mountain View, Cupertino and Sunnyvale area, he’s the first guy to call for a furnace repair. 5 stars.

When we bought our house we also bought a lot of heating problems, so I’ve worked with a few local companies. When we realized we needed to install a dehumidifier, I called Gary’s because they handled Aprilaire equipment. I could not have been happier with the service they provided. Not only was the serviceman pleasant, efficient, and helpful, he went beyond the call of duty to remove some defunct equipment from my home. When we realized we needed assistance a year after the original installation of our dehumidifier, that same serviceman showed up and fixed the problem — which was really a result of our own stupidity. (We didn’t realize that the filter needed to be replaced.) I cannot speak more highly of a local service or of the rep who has been such a tremendous help to us. I urge you to use Gary’s if you have any furnace/​dehumidifier issues. It’s good guys like these who really deserve our business.

Yoshi was quick to diagnosis and fix the problem. I would highly recommend him.

I was very pleased with the prompt and effective service I received from Yoshi at Gary’s Furnace Service. He diagnosed the problem within a few minutes of seeing the furnace and came back the next day with a new part. Installed it quickly, and now we have a warm and cozy house again. Thank you.

This is the second time we need the service from Gary. The first time was in 1996 to replace the furnace for the whole house. It was such a wonderful experience.
This time we have the problem with wall heater, which has been there for at least 22 years in the family room. We just called the shop again. Gary arrived on time and checked out the wall heater. He pointed out the concern was caused by the dust accumulated for years so we just need to clean it up and no replacement is needed. In term of the efficient of heating, he pointed out it won’t be better either.
Wow, these days we seldom see such honest service. We are really pleased by his service.

NOTE: I never hired Yoshi to do work but I did talk with him twice over a 2 year period on 1) replacement of our 20 yr old furnace, 2) redoing ductwork for an addition. He was professional, punctual and very polite. Janet was a pleasure to talk to and was helpful in scheduling. I’ve talked to over 10 HVAC contractors over the years and a couple have done work for us. The first was a larger company (fleet of trucks, big advertising) and the second was a one man owner/​operator referred by our addition contractor. The company did a reasonable job (I thought at the time) but a couple years later, after working with the owner/​operator, I realized the craftsmanship/​quality was pretty mediocre and some mistakes were made.
My big takeaway: go with the owner/​operator. the guy who sells you the job, talks with you about the precise details of the job and finally does the work himself. one throat to choke, vs. a big company (talking to a sales guy, different crew of random guys shows up, communication breakdown possibility, uncertain quality of work)
I can’t comment based on personal experience but based on my research and our discussions, I would definitely talk with him.
HVAC is an art. a complex mechanical system which requires expertise and experience to do *well. you get what you pay for so be wise/​meticulous in your search.

Selected Gary’s from the Consumer Checkbook (have never gotten a loser based on their ratings). Have a 40 year old furnace that is really a pool heater (radiant heat). I did a quick look when the heating system did not come on,. Saw that the pilot was out and had no luck trying to relight. Called Gary’s, they called back in 2 hours, were booked that day and came at noon the next day (Saturday, no extra charges). Joshi carefully replaced the thermocouple, cleaned the pilot light, made sure the heating system was now working and finally checked for leaks before leaving. Side note: They offer a 10% senior discount on their normal rates ($ 85 for first hour, parts extra).

Very happy with the service. A previous serviceman took more time and can’t resolve the problem. So, I called Gray’s Furnace, Yoshi came in (next day) and took less then ½ hr. Our gas furnace was up and running with heat right away.

It is such a breath of fresh air to deal with honest and courteous people! Yoshi was prompt and competent. He took one look at my 2 year old furnace and the hideous loud noise it makes, told me the motor is defective, but it should have a 5 – 10 year manufacturer warranty. He was also surprised to see we lacked a filter grill and no filters in our furnace, but did not try to sell me any of that. He basically gave me good honest competent recommendations at no charge!
I’m so glad I cancelled my first appointment with a different furnace company in San Jose. The other company tried to tell me I needed tune-​ups every year for a new furnace!
I am so grateful to have found such a great company and will definitely call Gary’s Furnace again for any furnace issues! Oh, I asked Yoshi to remove his shoes and he was kind about it. :)

Like everyone else I had a very positive experience with Gary’s Furnace Service. Janet on the phone is pleasant and very competent. Yoshi does good work at a fair price — $ 85 to diagnose and that includes one hour of service plus parts. The parts prices have a reasonable markup. He came out, replaced a 3 wire pilot in an hour and charged me $ 85 labor and $ 80 for the part. When the furnace stopped running a few days later he came out and realized the thermostat was defective — no charge. I replaced the thermostat and all is fine. Refreshing to find someone you can trust these days.

I love honest competent people; people who know what they are doing, get it done quickly and don’t try and charge for more than is required. Yoshi of Gary’s Furnace is just such a person.
We had (The company contact me and politely asked that their name be removed) out to look at our gravity furnace. From the moment he came into the house it was clear that his goal was to up sell me into a new heater. He looked disappointed that there were no holes or cracks in the furnace. He was clearly disappointed he had to crawl under the house to find the problem. I was disappointed with a $ 2,200 repair estimate; including $ 300 to replace a $ 25 flexible gas line.
The prior company had diagnosed the problem as the valve and the pilot assembly needing to be replaced. I told this diagnosis to Janet of Gary’s Furnace and she estimated $ 350 over the phone. Janet of Gary’s Furnace was very helpful and even though they were swamped found a way to fit us in.
Yoshi took one look at the furnace and said it was a clogged gas line. He cleaned out the whole assembly and replaced the gas line for $ 155. So if you are looking for an honest, competent furnace repair company who really knows the meaning of customer service, Gary’s Furnace should be on the top of your list!

I wish I could endorse the high praise of the other reviewers. Unfortunately, after the lady on the phone said they would be interested in replacing my old furnace, she called back and said, in effect, that the owner could not be bothered. (Assistant unavailable for what would be a two-​person job was the story she gave me.) She sounded very uncomfortable conveying this, as well she might. I am happy for them they are doing so well that they can turn down business. Kind of like a snobbish restaurant, I guess.

Gary runs an honest business. Luckily I found him before I let some less honest people rip me off. I called a company whose sticker was on my furnace, and apparently Linksys Mechanical had bought that business so the call went to Linksys. The long and short of it is that Linksys said they would install a new furnace for $ 3500, a cheaper version for $ 2500, or replace my existing furnace for $ 1500. I still have the written estimate.
I was suspicious that they were trying to rip me off, and checked around further. I called Gary’s Furnace, and Gary fixed my furnace for $ 365, including labor. It turns out I didn’t need a new one at all. Gary runs a very honest business.

The fan on my 60 year old furnace furnace finally gave out and I called Gary’s on Monday to have them take a look at it. They told me that they normally don’t work as far as Redwood City but since one of their guys was going to be in Palo Alto on Wednesday then they would come by. The technician arrived on time and immediately diagnosed that the fan needed to be replaced. He took the unit away and found a motor right away but had to special order the motor mount because my unit is so old. The mount didn’t show till Friday afternoon, so he came on Saturday and installed the everything. The heater works great now, though he told me to call if there was any problems. Total cost of the repair: $ 305, 180 for parts and 125 for labor (1.5 hours). All in all a very good experience. I suspect that he might have been able to install the motor on Friday if I lived closer to San Jose where the part was located, but I appreciated that he came on Saturday. It seems that the South Bay is more their area.

These guys did a great job of repairing my 58 year old gravity floor furnace. I wasn’t ready to replace it yet, and was dreading dealing with furnace repair firms as they try to convince me to replace it.
I found them via Bay Area Consumers Checkbook — top rated for quality and price. The woman who answered the phone in the office was very knowledgeable, and guessed that it was a pilot generator problem (she was right). Being the beginning of the heating season, she couldn’t get someone out until the next week, but I was willing to wait.
Yoshi came out, quickly confirmed the problem, and replaced the generator. He was very pleasant and didn’t mind having to crawl under the house several times to make the repair. The price was better than I expected — the part was priced at or below prices I had seen on the Internet for similar generators, and his labor/​service call rate was reasonable.
He told me that I could call him back if I had any further problems, but it’s been heating smoothly for the past two months!