HVAC Maintenance in Santa Fe, NM
A tune-up here has a calendar: combustion and heat before the first teen night, coils and coolers before monsoon. Dust and altitude mean filters and burners foul faster than a coastal brochure. We clean, test, and write down what is wearing — we do not invent a “you need a new furnace” from a dirty flame sensor. 505-316-4231.
A tune-up here has a calendar: combustion and heat before the first teen night, coils and coolers before monsoon. Dust and altitude mean filters and burners foul faster than a coastal brochure. We clean, test, and write down what is wearing — we do not invent a “you need a new furnace” from a dirty flame sensor. 505-316-4231.
Content reviewed 2026-10-01.
What we actually do on a visit
Filter, blower, condensate, electrical, thermostat, and on gas — combustion and CO around the cabinet. Coolers get pads, floats, and the line that will stain a ceiling if you ignore it. We write what is wearing. A dirty flame sensor is a cleaning, not a replacement speech.
Plans without the membership theater
If you want a fall and spring visit on the book, we can do that. You are not buying a mystery club. You are buying two scheduled trucks before the emergency rate applies.
Why dust and 7,200 feet change the interval
Dirt roads, adobe dust, and thin air mean burners and coils load faster than a coastal brochure. Waiting until the first no-heat night is how a $40 sensor becomes a Saturday emergency.
A tune-up is a list of measurements
We did not drive to Santa Fe to glance at a filter and leave a magnet. A maintenance visit on a gas furnace includes the filter, the flame, the vent, the condensate if it is a condensing unit, the temperature rise, and a carbon monoxide check in the flue and in the room. A cooling visit includes the filter, the coil if we can see it, the condensate drain, the temperature split, the contactor, and the capacitor. We write the numbers down. If a number is wrong we say what it means. A 30-degree split can be low airflow. A 5-degree split can be low charge or a compressor that is done. The number is not the sale. The cause is.
Filters, coolers, and the visit people actually need
Evaporative coolers want pads, a clean spider, a float that shuts off, and a pan that drains. That is seasonal work and it is not a refrigerant tune-up. We will not apply a refrigerated checklist to a swamp cooler. Furnaces want a filter that fits. A filter rack that has been bypassed with a wrong-size filter is why the blower is dirty and the coil is full of dog hair. We fix the rack. We do not sell you a media cabinet you do not have room for unless the return can take it.
What maintenance does not do
It does not resurrect a cracked heat exchanger. It does not refill a system that has a leak and call the leak “just a top-off.” Refrigerant leaves through a hole. We will not hide that inside a maintenance agreement. It does not include duct cleaning theater. If a duct is collapsed or disconnected, we repair the duct. If the duct is dusty and connected, a cleaning is optional and we will say optional. Agreements, if you want one, are a calendar and a price for the visit you just watched us do. They are not a mystery club.
Altitude and the burner
Every maintenance visit on a gas appliance includes a look at whether the burner is still set for this elevation. Screws walk. People replace valves and leave the orifice. A sooted exchanger found on a “simple tune-up” is the most useful thing we can find, because it is the thing that puts CO in a bedroom. We clean it if it is cleanable and we condemn it if it is cracked. You get that news on the same visit, with a price for the next step, not a phone call three days later.
Scheduling around the season
The week of the first hard freeze is the wrong week to discover the igniter is weak. We would rather see furnaces in October and cooling in April. If you call in January because the house is cold, that is a repair, and we will still do the measurements, but you are in line with the people who have no heat. Maintenance is how you stay out of that line. Call 505-316-4231 and tell us gas or electric, furnace or boiler or cooler.
What the hour is spent on
Filter and the rack. Blower housing if it is packed. Burners or the condenser coil, whichever machine we are there for. Condensate drain, blown clear, not poked once and called done. Electrical connections that are discolored. Capacitor tested, not guessed. Temperature rise or split written down. For gas, a CO reading. For a cooler, pads, spider, float, belt, and the bleed line so the hard water has somewhere to dump minerals. That list is the visit. A sticker and a handshake without the list is not maintenance.
What we quote when we find something
A weak capacitor gets a price on the spot because the part is on the truck and the failure is this summer’s no-cool. A cracked exchanger gets a price and a red tag in the conversation, and the furnace stays off. A refrigerant leak gets a diagnosis price and a repair-or-replace comparison, not a top-off slipped into the maintenance line. You can decline. The system goes back the way we found it if declining is safe. If it is not safe, it stays off and you know why.
Records
We keep the numbers and we leave you a copy. Next season we can see whether the split changed. That is how a slow leak gets caught before the compressor cooks. If you do not want an agreement, you do not need one to get this visit. Call in April for cooling and in October for heat, earlier if you leave town. 505-316-4231. Tell us furnace, boiler, heat pump, or cooler so the truck shows up with pads or with gauges, not with both and a guess.
A visit you can audit
You should be able to tell a real tune-up from a sticker. Ask for the temperature rise or the cooling split. Ask what the capacitor read. Ask whether CO was checked on a gas appliance. Ask if the drain was cleared or merely looked at. If we cannot answer, we did not finish. The filter size should be written so the next filter you buy fits the rack and does not get sucked into the blower. Cooler maintenance should leave you with a float that shuts off and pads that still have openings for air. A cooler visit that only changes a pad and leaves a chalked spider is half a visit. We do not enroll you in a plan by default. If you want a reminder in spring and fall, we can put you on one at the price of the visit you just watched. The plan does not include imaginary repairs. Anything we find is priced in front of you and can be declined when it is safe to decline. Unsafe equipment stays off, with the reason on the ticket. Book before the first freeze and before the first week of real heat if you want a maintenance slot instead of a no-heat slot. 505-316-4231. Have the fuel and the type of machine ready.
Spring and fall, not the day it dies
October is when we want to see igniters that are weak and drains that are starting to sludge. April is when we want to see capacitors that are out of spec before the first 90-degree week. January and July are repair season, and the same measurements happen, but you are in a queue with people who have no heat or no cool. If you have a cooler, book the pad change before the dust and the first hot weekend. If you have a boiler and a furnace, they are two visits or one longer one, and the schedule should say which. Write down the filter size we leave. Buying the wrong size and leaving the rack open undoes the visit.
What we actually get called for
Not a generic list — these are the failures this climate and housing stock produce.
Igniter that dies every other winter
Often a dirty system or a unit at end of life. We say which.
AC that smells at first start
Coil and drain. Maintenance, not a new condenser.
Cooler that rained in the hall
A dry-rot pan. Cheaper in May than in July.
Short cycles after a skip year
Overheat from a dirty filter or a failing inducer. We test before we sell a furnace.
How a job runs
Book the season
Fall heat, spring cool. We put you on the book before the teen nights.
Service checklist
You get what we found in writing, including combustion numbers on gas.
Repair only what failed
No bundled mystery parts. A sensor is a sensor.
Questions people ask before they call
How often should HVAC be serviced in Santa Fe?
Heat once before winter. Cooling once before summer. Dusty dirt roads or pets may need a mid-season filter run you can do yourself.
Does maintenance void or keep a warranty?
Most manufacturers want documented service. We leave a record. We cannot speak for a brand you bought online.
Do you service evaporative coolers on a maintenance visit?
Yes. Pads, floats, pumps, and the line that stains a ceiling. A cooler is still cooling equipment in this town.
City pages that stay
Maintenance & Repairs stays on this URL. Santa Fe, Los Alamos, and Española each have one plumber page. Other towns 308 here or to those three. Call 505-316-4231.
Need maintenance & repairs?
Lobo Tech · NM license 384927 · 1259 Coriander Rd, Santa Fe · 505-316-4231