Emergency HVAC Repair in Los Angeles, CA

Right now

What Counts as an HVAC Emergency

Not every breakdown has to be fixed tonight. Some do.

A system that quits at 2 in the afternoon on a 104°F day in the Valley is not the same problem as one that quits on a mild evening in Santa Monica. The question is not only what broke. It is who is in the house, how hot or cold it is going to get, and whether anything about the failure is unsafe.

Call us straight away, day or night, when:

• Your AC is out during a heat wave and someone at home is elderly, very young, pregnant, ill or on medication that makes heat dangerous
• The heat is out on a cold night and you have no safe way to keep the house warm
• You smell burning, see smoke or hear electrical buzzing or crackling from the furnace, air handler or outdoor unit
• The system trips its breaker again after you reset it once
• Water is pouring from the air handler, the furnace closet or a ceiling below the attic unit
• A business can't stay open without cooling: a restaurant kitchen, a server room, a medical or retail space

If you smell gas, that is a different kind of emergency. Leave the house first, then call 911 and the gas company (SoCalGas: 1-800-427-2200) from outside. Do not switch anything on or off on the way out. Once the gas company has made it safe, we can repair the furnace.

Before we arrive

What to Do While You Wait

A few safe checks fix some problems outright, and the rest tell the technician where to start.

Only do what feels safe. Nothing here needs tools or opening a panel.

1. 1

   Check the thermostat

   Make sure it is set to cool or heat, the set temperature is below or above the room temperature, and the screen is on. A blank screen often means dead batteries or a tripped breaker, not a dead system.

2. 2

   Reset the breaker once

   If the HVAC breaker has tripped, switch it fully off and back on one time. If it trips again, leave it off and call. A breaker that keeps tripping is protecting you from an electrical fault.

3. 3

   Look at the filter

   A filter packed with dust or wildfire smoke residue can starve the system of air until the indoor coil freezes. If it is clogged, swap it for a clean one.

4. 4

   Ice on the lines? Run the fan only

   If you see ice on the copper lines or the indoor coil, set the thermostat to off and the fan to on. That thaws the coil without running the compressor against it. Put a towel under the unit for the meltwater.

5. 5

   Burning smell or water leak? Turn it off

   Set the thermostat to off and leave it off until we have looked at it. Running a system that smells hot or is leaking can turn a repair into a replacement.

On a dangerous heat day, do not wait in a hot house for the repair. Los Angeles County opens cooling centers during heat waves; call 211 to find the nearest one that is open.

The emergency call, step by step

How an Emergency Call Works

From the moment you call to the moment the system is safe and running, here is what happens.

1. 1

   You call (323) 770-7737

   Any hour, any day. Tell us what the system is doing, what you have already tried, and who is at home. If something is unsafe, we tell you how to make it safe first.

2. 2

   We triage on the phone

   Some problems can safely wait for a regular weekday visit, and we will tell you if yours is one of them. If it can't wait, we confirm the visit and what it costs before anyone is sent.

3. 3

   A licensed technician makes it safe

   The first job is to isolate whatever is unsafe: power, a leak, an overheating part. Then the technician runs the same diagnostic sequence we use on every repair call, so the fix goes to the cause and not to the loudest symptom.

4. 4

   You approve the repair

   You get a written finding of what failed and what fixing it involves. No part is replaced and no repair labor starts until you say yes.

5. 5

   Running tonight, finished properly

   Common parts such as capacitors, contactors and fuses are on the truck, so many systems run again on the same visit. If a part has to be ordered, we get you safe and as comfortable as we can, then come back to finish the permanent repair.

Local conditions

Why Systems Fail on the Worst Days in Los Angeles

Most emergency calls come on the days the system is pushed hardest.

When the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys and the Inland Empire sit above 100°F for days, an air conditioner runs almost without stopping. The outdoor unit is rejecting heat into air that is already hot, so pressures and temperatures inside it climb. A capacitor that was weakening all summer, a contactor with pitted contacts or a fan motor near the end of its life tends to give out right then, at the peak of the heat, often in the late afternoon.

Santa Ana wind days add their own load: hot, dry air and dust packed into condenser coils. After a fire, smoke residue does the same, and a coated coil can lose a large share of its ability to shed heat without looking dirty.

Heating emergencies are rarer here, but they cluster too. The first cold nights of the year are when a furnace that sat idle all summer finds out its ignitor, flame sensor or pressure switch has failed. Inland and foothill homes feel it first.

On the truck

The Failures We Fix Most on Emergency Calls

Most emergency calls come down to a short list of parts and faults, which is why a well stocked truck gets so many systems running again on the first visit.

• Failed run or start capacitors, the most common reason an AC hums but won't start
• Burned or stuck contactors in the outdoor unit
• Frozen evaporator coils from restricted airflow or low refrigerant
• Refrigerant leaks, found and repaired before the system is recharged
• Condenser fan and blower motor failures
• Clogged condensate drains and tripped overflow switches that shut the system down
• Furnace ignitors, flame sensors and pressure switches
• Heat pump defrost and reversing valve faults
• Electrical faults that trip breakers or blow fuses
• Thermostats and control boards that stop calling for heat or cooling

Service area

Emergency HVAC Service Across Greater Los Angeles

Mister Cool California takes emergency calls from homes and businesses throughout the region.

We serve Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Santa Monica, Culver City, Inglewood, Hawthorne, Torrance, Redondo Beach, Compton, Gardena, Downey, Carson, Long Beach, Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, Alhambra, El Monte, Monterey Park, Whittier, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, and Orange County and Inland Empire communities including Anaheim, Santa Ana and Riverside.

Frequently Asked Questions

What people ask when the heat or the AC is out. If yours is not here, call and ask.