On Wed, 16 Jan 2008 10:28:19 -0800 (PST), wrote:


How did you choose the company who worked on yourfurnace?
My plumbing/air/heating guy weve used for years just retired. I tried
getting a referral from him, but he was having health problems. I
asked around and no one had anyhting for me, so I remembered seeing
their trucks around & gave them a call


You didn't describe what type of furnace you have, the high tech high
efficiency type with an electronics board (expensive parts) or the
regular type without electronics (easy and cheap to fix).

Your description sounds like the older regular type which is quite
easy to repair and the parts should cost under $50. You also didn't
describe the problem with your furnace. That will give an idea of the
labor involved to fix and therefore what is reasonable as charges.

From the little you had said it sounds like the wire from the
transformer was faulty (open or shorted) and wouldn't operate the gas
valve. You could have replaced he wire yourself. The 24V transformer
shouldn't fail. All it does is to operate that gas valve and it needs
to work only when the furnace is running, a very light workload for
something with no moving parts to wear out. I wouldn't want to add to
your aggravation by commenting on the charges.

One more tip. In my city the gas company provides a free service for
gas furnace, gas hot water heater and gas fireplace problems, .
Probably your city's too. Their service department mandate is to
maintain the gas service. For example if your pilot light is out and
you have no clue as to where to look or what to do they will come and
relight it and show you how you can do it yourself. No charge. If
you suspect that combustion gasses may be leaking into your house
(carbon monixide, nausea, vomitting) they will inspect your furnace
and advise you if you need a new furnace (leaky heat exchangers cannot
be replaced under the law) or do a simple fix. No charge. Suspected
CO poisoning is a high priority call (24 hour emergency service) that
will being their service technician over to your house immediately.

Fixes that do not require parts are free. A wire replacement for your
transformer to gas valve is free. If the transformer needed replacing
they will charge only the price of the transformer. Same "price of
gas valve" only if that needed replacing. They won't clean your
furnace and they won't do big jobs like furnace replacement. But they
will give you an objective opinion/report on what needs to be done.
You can phone around HVAC contractors to get a price quote for a
clearly described problem.