Frequently Asked Questions
Dalton Heating & Air has been answering HVAC questions for Los Angeles homeowners since 2003, and we’ve heard most of them. Below are the ones we get on the phone every week, grouped so you can jump to what you need. If your question isn’t here, call (361) 306-9515 and a live person will pick up, any hour.
Pricing & Estimates
How much does HVAC service cost?
Most HVAC service calls in Los Angeles run $89 – $150 for the diagnostic and a written quote, and common repairs land between $150 and $950 depending on the part. A capacitor swap on a condenser is on the low end; a blower motor or a failed control board pushes toward the high end. Refrigerant recharge, topping off the cooling fluid your system needs to reach set temperature, usually adds $200 – $600 depending on how much R-410A or R-32 the system has lost and whether we have to find the leak first. What you won’t get from us is a number that changes at the door. Every Dalton job, from a $12 fuse to a full system swap, comes with the price in writing before anyone picks up a tool.
Do you offer free estimates?
Yes, we provide free estimates on system replacements and installs, and the diagnostic fee on repair calls is credited toward the work if you move forward. A replacement estimate includes the equipment model number, the SEER2 rating, labor, permit, and haul-away in one line-item total, not a ballpark. If you’re comparing quotes and want to know why one is $2,000 cheaper than another, ask us and we’ll walk you through what’s missing from the lower bid. Call (361) 306-9515 to set one up.
Is it cheaper to repair or replace my AC?
Repair is usually cheaper if the system is under 12 years old and the repair is under a third of replacement cost. In Los Angeles, where our mild winters let condensers run hard from May through October, we see a lot of 10-to-14-year-old units in the Valley that hit the repair-or-replace line at the same time. If your system uses R-22 refrigerant – banned for new production since 2020 – a leak repair can run $1,200 or more just for the charge, which usually tips the math toward replacement. We’ll give you both numbers in writing and let you decide without pressure.
| Common Job | Typical LA Range |
|---|---|
| Diagnostic + written quote | $89 – $150 |
| Capacitor or contactor | $150 – $320 |
| Blower motor | $450 – $900 |
| Refrigerant recharge | $200 – $600 |
| Furnace repair (common parts) | $150 – $450 |
| Full system replacement | $6,500 – $14,000 |
Service & Scheduling
Do you offer emergency HVAC service?
Yes, we staff live phone support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including holidays, and we dispatch emergency calls for no-cool and no-heat situations. In Los Angeles that mostly means a condenser that quits during a September heat wave or a furnace that won’t light on a cold January morning. Call (361) 306-9515 any hour and you’ll reach a real person, not a voicemail queue or a callback window. We’ll tell you honestly whether it can wait until morning or whether we’re rolling a truck.
How fast can you respond?
Standard service calls are typically scheduled same day or next day, and emergency calls get priority dispatch. We commit to arriving inside the window we give you – not “sometime between 8 and 5.” If we’re running late, we call you before the window closes, not after. That arrival discipline is one of the terms of The Garrison Standard, the operating code every Dalton location is bound to.
What areas do you serve?
Dalton Heating & Air serves Los Angeles and the surrounding communities, including the San Fernando Valley, Hollywood, Silver Lake, Culver City, and the South Bay. Our technicians know the local housing stock – the 1920s bungalows in Echo Park with attic furnaces, the 1960s tract homes in the Valley with ductwork that’s seen better decades, the newer condo towers downtown with mini-split systems. If you’re not sure whether we cover your address, call (361) 306-9515 and we’ll tell you straight.
Who is coming to my house?
Every Dalton technician is background-checked and arrives in uniform, in a marked truck, with the job details on a tablet. You’ll know who’s coming before they arrive. We don’t subcontract residential service calls to whoever’s available. That’s a Garrison Partners requirement – each location is independently owned and operated, and each is bound to The Garrison Code: arrive inside the window, price in writing before starting, do the job by the book, leave the site clean, and stand behind the work for a full year.
Licensing & Trust
Are you licensed and insured?
Yes, Dalton Heating & Air is a licensed and insured HVAC contractor, and we’ll show you the credentials on request. We’re a Garrison Partners company, founded in 2003, and every location operates under the same written standards. We also pull the required permits on installs – a lot of HVAC work in Los Angeles County needs a mechanical permit, and skipping it can bite you at resale. Ask any contractor you’re considering for the permit number before they start.
Do you guarantee your work?
Yes – every repair is guaranteed in writing for a full year, and if it fails in that window we return at no charge. That’s our 365-Day Done Right Promise, and it’s included with every service call, not sold as an upgrade. Most HVAC companies guarantee repairs for 30 days, which is roughly the time it takes for a half-done fix to show its face. We decided a year was the honest number. If our work doesn’t hold, we make it right, and you don’t pay twice.
What payment methods do you accept?
We accept all major credit and debit cards, checks, and cash, and we process payment after the work is complete and you’ve approved it. Financing is available on system replacements through our lending partners, with terms we’ll spell out in writing before you sign anything. You’ll never be asked for a deposit before a repair starts.
What brands do you service?
Our technicians are factory-trained to service nine major residential HVAC brands: Carrier, Trane, Lennox, Goodman, Rheem, York, Daikin, Bryant, and American Standard. That covers the overwhelming majority of systems in Los Angeles homes, from the Trane units common in older Valley houses to the Daikin mini-splits going into renovated Silver Lake bungalows. If you’ve got an oddball brand, call us – we’ll tell you honestly whether we can help.
Specific Services
Do you handle AC repair and installation?
Yes, AC repair and installation is our most-requested service in Los Angeles. Our repair work is covered by our written guarantee, and our AC Repair in Los Angeles page walks through what we see most – capacitor failures, refrigerant leaks, frozen coils, and compressors that quit during a heat wave. On installs, we size the system to your actual square footage and duct layout rather than swapping like-for-like, because an oversized condenser in a 1,200-square-foot bungalow short-cycles and dies young.
Do you handle heating and furnace repair?
Yes, we repair and install furnaces, and a typical Los Angeles furnace repair runs $150 – $450 depending on the part. Common failures here are igniters, flame sensors, inducer motors, and pressure switches – parts that wear out from age, not hard winters. Because our heating season is short, we see a lot of furnaces that haven’t been looked at in five years suddenly fail on the first cold night. Fall is the right time to have yours checked.
Do you handle heat pumps and mini-splits?
Yes, we install and service both heat pumps and ductless mini-split systems. Heat pumps have become popular in Los Angeles because they cool and heat from one unit, and with our mild winters they run efficiently year-round. Mini-splits are common in older homes without ductwork and in room additions where extending the existing ducts isn’t practical. We’re factory-trained on Daikin and Bryant systems, among others, and we’ll size the indoor heads to the rooms they actually serve.
Do you handle air quality and ventilation?
Yes, we install and service whole-home air filtration, media filters, UV purification, and ventilation equipment. In Los Angeles, wildfire smoke and freeway-adjacent dust are real concerns, and a basic 1-inch fiberglass filter does almost nothing about either. A proper media cabinet with a MERV 11 to MERV 13 filter captures far more without choking airflow, which is the trap most homeowners fall into when they buy a “high-MERV” filter at the hardware store and wonder why the system runs hot. We’ll match the filtration to your equipment so you don’t trade air quality for a burnt-out blower.
Do you offer maintenance plans?
Yes, we offer seasonal maintenance that includes a full inspection, coil cleaning, and a written report on anything showing wear. We recommend it twice a year – once before cooling season and once before heating season – because catching a weak capacitor in April is a $200 job, and catching it in August after it kills the compressor is a $2,500 job. Maintenance customers also get priority scheduling when things go wrong.
How do I schedule a visit?
Here’s how it works, start to finish:
- Call (361) 306-9515 and speak to a live person, 24/7.
- We confirm your address, the issue, and a two-hour arrival window.
- A background-checked, uniformed technician arrives in the window and diagnoses the system.
- You get the price in writing before any work begins – no surprises at the door.
- We complete the work by the book, clean up the site, and leave you with the written guarantee.
That’s the whole process, and it’s the same no matter which Dalton location you call or which of our services you need.
Key Takeaways
- Diagnostic and written quote: $89 – $150, credited toward repair work.
- Most furnace repairs run $150 – $450; AC repairs $150 – $950.
- Written price before work starts, on every job, no exceptions.
- Every repair guaranteed in writing for a full year, with a free return visit if it fails.
- Live phone support 24/7 – call (361) 306-9515 and a real person answers.
If you’ve been burned by a no-show, a price that moved at the door, or a repair that quit after a month, we’d like the chance to do it right. Dalton Heating & Air has been a Garrison Partners company since 2003, led by owner Marco Benitez, and we’re built on the idea that the terms should be in writing before anyone touches your system. Call (361) 306-9515 today for a free estimate – you’ll reach a live person, and you’ll know what the job costs before we start.
Have a question we didn’t cover? Call Dalton Heating & Air at (361) 306-9515.