Ocean Air Heating

Ocean Air Heating replaced my old gas furnace (was in garage) with a new electric heat-pump mini-split system (compressor on the roof). So it was a big job for my San Francisco Edwardian home. They had the lowest price, did excellent work, and were communicative and easy to work with. Both James and Kevin were knowledgeable and friendly, and their whole team were experienced and did a great job. So we also hired them when we had to move another furnace in the building, to accommodate an earthquake retrofit. They did a great job with that project too, moving the furnace to fit the needs of our structural construction team.

I cannot speak highly enough of my experience with Ocean Air Heating. My house gets really hot in the summer and I was looking to install AC. I called James to discuss the options and ultimately opted for installation of a heat pump system.

James and his crew did an amazing job with the project. They were able to install everything in 2 days. The crew did an incredible job installing the system and left my house spotless afterwards. Now I am able to keep my house a comfortable temperature year round with a highly efficient heat pump!

James and his technician Kevin were by far the most competent HVAC experts I worked with. My mini split system stopped turning on mid-summer - after months of contractors provided by my home warranty (don't get one of these, they're horrible), nobody had provided me an answer. One technician said the compressor was busted, another said the circuit board. All of them said the whole system had to be replaced. I got tired of this - and reached out to James.

Kevin spent more than two hours looking at every aspect of my setup - in the end, he was able to figure out that the condensate pump indoors (since my condensate drain line is above the fan) had failed, which turns off power to the rest of the system. The system itself worked fine, and he came back to replace the pump and viola, everything worked. He tried two different pumps - the first was one was way too loud, so he installed a different one which is silent.

I appreciated Kevin's thoroughness and honesty - I would trust them for an HVAC job in the future given how many other contractors failed to find the real issue and almost made me get a whole new system.

Was trying to decide how to survive fire season this year. I called James and he helped me figure out options without charging me for a consult fee. His info was incredibly helpful!

Got a quote from one of the big HVAC firms to install heat pump HVAC in my condo in SF. After the sticker shock I shopped around and found James on Yelp. He was super friendly, expedient and his estimate was not only HALF of what the big firms charge, he came in under budget! Work was done in a timely manner (also in half time of the bigger shop), and his crew is super friendly, helpful and knows their stuff. Six stars! Highly recommended.

How great is Ocean Air? Nine years ago James installed our heating system in the attic of our house which was built in 1904. I'm coming here today to praise him because as I'm getting heating/AC bids for my in-laws in Fremont I now appreciate just how knowledgeable & resourceful he was.

He came up with solutions to problems of heating our pre-quake house I didn't even know needed to be solved!
I'm now dealing with duct/heating problems in a house built in the 1960's. I wish I had him down here!

At least now I know what to look for in an expert in HVAC, someone like James!
Steve B
SF
Happy, Satisfied Customer of Ocean Air since 2012

Needed a couple of wall heaters replaced in 2 units. James quoted and sent me an estimate (labor and parts) within 24 hours of my inquiry. His quote turned out to be lower than the going rate for the units I wanted. He was flexible on the installation date. The tenants who received the new heaters were satisfied and taught how to operate the units.

10 STARS!!
Ocean Air Heating has over 130 Yelp reviews with a overall 5 star rating. Yelp is correct. My Carrier furnace acted up so I took to Yelp and found Ocean Air and read thru the recent reviews. I decided to use this place and sure glad I did. The business owner, James, took my call and set up the appt for the next day. James was straightforward during our brief conversation. Shortly before my appt slot, I received a call from Kevin (the tech) and said that he was on his way. Kevin arrived and listened to what I had observed about the furnace. He proceeded to inspect and checked out a couple of components and quickly found a defective part. He had the part in his van! Replaced the part and fired up the furnace. We thought it was good to go. Kevin then vacuumed the furnace inside and around, wow! He also checked for gas leaks, found one and fixed it. I'm impressed! Kevin wanted to double check the furnace and fired it up again. Good thing he did, after a few minutes, an error code appeared. Kevin diagnosed it and replaced another part that did not appeared to be bad. Looks can be deceiving. Ran the furnace again and everything is working. Price was reasonable. Kevin was personable, courteous, meticulous and thorough. I would not hesitate to recommend or use this business again in the future. Thanks James and Kevin!

Thought we had it right. James came out a few years ago and helped us with removing our old tank of a gravity furnace and replaced it with a more modern device.

Long story short:

Motherboard issue within the first couple years. Costs $800 to replace. Only temporarily fixes the problem. James comes out and cannot solve the problem. Ends up sticking a pencil in between the door and the unit to engage a pressure switch Problem is solved for a few days. I'm embarrassed to call the guy back because I'm like that AND James is a stand up guy and I'm thinking this is just a bad unit + it was getting warm and I let it slide.

Then it became now. My wife is cold and the heater is still broken and the pencil is on the floor. After trying to get a hold of the business a reasonable amount of times, I felt it was time to try someone else who told me the problem was the motherboard. So... was the motherboard replaced? Was there some other problem that my $800 couldn't diagnose? Not sure because ocean air was unable to give me support. You'd think that if you purchase a new piece of equipment from someone and within a short time a huge malfunction occurs.... and your name is on that product, you'd make it right somehow... especially when your customer is willing to pay you $800 DOLLARS to solve the problem.

My NEW FURNACE which cost about the same but it's cleaner, it burns hotter and is quieter than the one ocean air installed. I thought it was great when it worked but it wasn't till right now that I realized how much better was available.

The two stars are for James cause I like the guy on a personal level. The missing three stars are for grief I've taken from my family as I'm the one they come to when they're cold. They should never have been cold.

James is very knowledgeable and reliable. Installed new furnace and everything went smoothly. Recommend highly and I am super particular about hiring people.