Straight answers, with Arvada prices attached.

Most repairs land between $200 and $600 for parts and labor this quarter. Ignitors, flame sensors, and capacitors are $120 to $300. Blower motors, inducers, gas valves, and control boards run $400 to $1,600. A heat exchanger is $1,000 to $3,700 and usually opens the repair-or-replace conversation. Full list on the repair cost page.

The diagnostic visit runs $49 to $180 depending on the job and the hour, and it is credited toward the repair when you go ahead. The photo quote through the site is free and usually narrows the range before anyone comes out.

Because the same part costs different amounts on different furnaces. An ignitor for a 20-year-old single-stage furnace and one for a modulating high-efficiency unit are different parts at different prices. The range covers both. Your written price is a single number, given before any work starts.

They are compiled from published pricing at Denver-area HVAC contractors and national cost guides, checked quarterly. They are stated as ranges and dated. The current set was verified in September 2026.

Part and labor pricing is the same day or night. Some contractors apply an after-hours premium to the diagnostic visit; where one applies, it is stated on the phone before a truck is sent, never discovered on the invoice.

$3,500 to $10,400 installed this quarter. An 80 percent single-stage furnace is $3,500 to $5,500; a 95 to 97 percent two-stage or modulating furnace is $5,500 to $10,400. That includes the City of Arvada permit and haul-away. See the replacement cost page.

$89 to $200, 45 to 90 minutes, with a written report. Any repair found during the visit is quoted separately and needs your approval. Details on the tune-up page.

Financing on replacements is common with Denver-area contractors, including promotional zero-interest terms with approved credit. Ask on the call and the options for your quote get laid out with the rebates.

Five things, ten minutes: thermostat set to Heat with fresh batteries, the light-switch-style power switch on the furnace, the breaker, the filter, and the blower door seated flush. A third of no-heat calls end there. The full list is on the furnace won't turn on page.

Yes. One ring, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, holidays included. No menu, no voicemail. You describe the problem, hear the price range, and get an arrival window on that first call.

No-heat calls go to the front of the board. Same day on most calls, and usually within hours overnight. In a hard cold snap, when every truck on the west side is running, you hear the first honest slot rather than a promise that slips.

Leave the house. Do not flip switches or relight anything. From outside, call Xcel Energy at 800-895-2999 or 911. A furnace repair can wait; a gas leak cannot. Call us after the line is made safe.

Possibly, and it does not matter yet. Get everyone outside and call 911 first. A cracked heat exchanger or a blocked flue can put CO into the house with no smell at all. Once the house is cleared, call and the furnace gets inspected and tested before it runs again.

Yes. Turn the power switch on the furnace off for 30 seconds and back on. That clears a lockout. If it locks out again within the hour, the fault is still there and repeated resets will not fix it. Never keep resetting a furnace that smells of gas.

Keep everyone in one room and close doors to unused rooms. If the house drops below 50 degrees, open cabinets under sinks on exterior walls and let a faucet drip. Never use the oven, a grill, or a generator for heat indoors.

Yes. Thanksgiving, Christmas week, New Year's. Holiday weeks are among the busiest of the year for no-heat calls, so calling early in the day gets the earlier window.

Check the thermostat fan setting first: On runs the blower constantly and the air feels cold between cycles. Set it to Auto. Then the filter. After that it is a flame sensor, ignitor, condensate block, or, rarely, a heat exchanger. Most fixes are $150 to $400. Full guide on the cold air page.

That is short cycling. More than half the time it is restricted airflow: a clogged filter, closed registers, or a return covered by furniture. Then a limit switch, flame sensor, thermostat placement, or a furnace that was oversized for the house. See the short cycling page.

The board is calling for ignition and not getting flame. On most furnaces that is a cracked hot surface ignitor, $150 to $300. Three failed tries locks the furnace out until the power is cycled.

A dirty flame sensor. The thin rod next to the burners is coated in oxidation and cannot prove the flame to the control board, so the board shuts the gas for safety. Cleaning or replacing it is $150 to $300 and one of the quickest repairs on the truck.

The control board is flashing a fault code. The legend is printed on the inside of the front panel: count the flashes and match it. Common ones are pressure switch open, limit tripped, and ignition failure. Tell the tech the code when you call and the range gets narrower.

Delayed ignition. Gas builds up before the burners light and ignites all at once. Usually dirty burners or a weak ignitor, and it is worth fixing soon because repeated bangs stress the heat exchanger. Burner cleaning is inside a tune-up; an ignitor is $150 to $300.

Dust burning off the heat exchanger on the first run of the season is normal and clears in an hour. A burning smell that persists, smells electrical, or comes with a hot plastic note is a blower motor or wiring problem. Turn the furnace off and call.

Squealing is usually a blower motor bearing or belt on older furnaces. Grinding is the inducer motor or a blower wheel rubbing the housing. Both get worse, not better. Blower motors are $450 to $1,600; inducers $500 to $1,500.

On a high-efficiency furnace with PVC vents, water means the condensate trap, hose, or pump is clogged or frozen, $100 to $400 to clear. On an 80 percent furnace with a metal flue, water is unusual and often points to a flue or humidifier problem. Either way, it needs a look.

Usually the ductwork, not the furnace. A disconnected duct in the crawlspace, a closed damper, or an undersized run to the upstairs bedrooms on a split-level. A tech can find a disconnected duct in minutes; fixing it is usually $150 to $500.

Use the one-third rule: if the furnace is over 15 years old and the repair costs more than a third of a new one, replace it. In Arvada that line sits around $1,200 to $1,500. Under 10 years, repair almost always. Over 20, replace unless the fix is under $400. The repair-or-replace page has a table by age.

15 to 25 years. The spread is mostly maintenance, filter habits, and whether the furnace was sized correctly for the house and the altitude. A furnace that has short cycled its whole life because it was oversized ages faster than its years.

The serial number on the sticker inside the front panel encodes the manufacture date. Most brands put the year in the first two or four digits, or use a letter code. Send a photo of the sticker through the photo quote and the age comes back with your range.

Usually yes, because Xcel rebates narrow the gap and the two-stage comfort is what people notice. The gas savings alone take years to pay back the difference on an Arvada bill. If the venting run for a condensing furnace would be long and expensive in your house, an 80 percent two-stage can be the better value.

Worth a serious look if you are replacing AC too. A cold-climate heat pump replaces both, runs $6,000 to $15,000 before rebates, and the Xcel plus Colorado state stack commonly takes $3,500 or more off. On the coldest Arvada nights a backup heat source or a dual-fuel setup with a small furnace keeps it comfortable.

Yes. The City of Arvada requires a mechanical permit for furnace and AC replacement, followed by an inspection. It is included in the installed price and handled for you. An unpermitted furnace can come up when you sell.

A licensed, insured Colorado HVAC contractor with NATE or EPA 608 certified technicians. The contractor's license number appears on your invoice. Ralston Creek Heating and Air answers the phone, quotes the range, schedules the visit, and publishes the prices.

Repairs carry a parts-and-labor warranty of at least one year. New systems carry the manufacturer's parts warranty plus a written labor warranty. Both are in writing on the invoice.

Yes, every time. Flat-rate pricing, written, approved by you before any work begins. No hourly meter, no overtime surprise. Anything the tech finds beyond the original quote is quoted separately and needs your approval too.

Arvada, Olde Town, Applewood, Leyden, Candelas, and Wheat Ridge. Westminster and Golden on most days. If you are outside that, the phone will say so up front rather than book a truck that cannot get there.

Snap the front of your furnace with the sticker visible and send it through the form on the home page. A tech reads the model and age, matches it against this quarter's Arvada ranges, and calls back with a price range and the next open window, usually within minutes during business hours.

Annual furnace and AC maintenance together typically runs $150 to $350 a year with Denver-area contractors and usually includes priority scheduling in a cold snap. Ask on the call; the plan terms come from the contractor doing the work.

Yes. At about 5,300 feet a gas furnace loses roughly four percent of rated output per 1,000 feet, so an 80,000 BTU nameplate delivers closer to 63,000 to 64,000 BTU in Arvada. Furnaces sized from a sea-level chart end up oversized, which causes short cycling for their whole life. Sizing here starts with a load calculation.

Because that is when an ignitor goes from idle to lighting ten times a day, and a weak one cracks. Flame sensors that were marginal all fall finally drop out. A September or October tune-up catches both while the schedule is open.

Most of the city went up between 1955 and 1985, so a lot of 80 percent furnaces in basements and utility closets, often on their second or third replacement, running through original ductwork. That is why static pressure gets measured on every replacement quote: the duct is half the system.

Xcel Energy rebates on qualifying high-efficiency furnaces and heat pumps, the Colorado state heat pump tax credit, and the federal 25C credit where the equipment qualifies. Stacked, the heat pump incentives commonly reduce installed cost by $3,500 or more in 2026. The quote lists every one you qualify for and the paperwork is handled for you.

Yes, and in older Arvada it is the most common summer project. The conversion reuses your existing furnace blower where the equipment allows, and heat pump options qualify for Xcel and state rebates. A photo of the setup gets you a range the same day.