Chris is very responsive and professional. He is on time for his appointments and is fair with his pricing. Will definitely use his services again when I need heating work. read more

Responded, and identified and repaired heater exhaust fan problem fast. Also checked system for other potential issues and gave helpful advice about operating our heating system read more

This review is a bit overdue; however, with the 2024/25 winter season upon us now our family really appreciates Chris' professionalism, responsiveness, industry experience, and ability to navigate a crawl space to repair the older gas floor furnaces of our Oakland home built in1939. Our previous maintenance visit was Sep 2022. After being dormant for the spring/summer months we were pleased to have the floor heaters start the first time. We plan to schedule a maintenance visit in the next few months. As another reviewer stated, it is challenging to find an experienced HVAC professional to competently repair and keep older equipment in running/safe condition. Chris is very knowledgeable, efficient, resourceful/timely with locating repair parts, and we really appreciate his ability to clearly explain next step repairs/costs to schedule the work. Thank you Chris for assisting our family staying warm for another fall/winter season! The Wong-Wurnitsch Family read more

If you want to be scammed call Chris. He is an arrogant jerk who will rip you off! Called him. Said it would be $99 dollars to come and any work performed would be $250 and hour. He looked at the furnace and referred me to another contractor. Charged me $349. Wasn't even in my home for more than 10 minutes. Def felt like I was scammed. read more

Long overdue review. Chris repaired my furnace back in 2016 and I was busy and forgot to leave a review. The reason I'm reviewing today is because my neighbor, who has the same furnace as mine, just told me he paid $10k for a new furnace. When my furnace had a heating problem, Chris gave me a couple of options. One was to replace the furnace and the other was to repair it with a refurbished part. I chose option #2 to use a refurbished part. Total repair cost was $660. 9 years later, I'm so happy with my choice. But I'm also happy I choose Chris Levering to do the work. Most companies would have told me to replace the furnace. I also recall Chris had really good furnace knowledge and knew exactly what my furnace problem was in a matter of minutes. read more

We purchased an old home (built in 1928) with a floor furnace. We knew there was something wrong with it when we bought the house because it wouldn't turn on, so we had PG&E come take a look at it and they told us after the inspection that we needed to hire a contractor because they weren't able to fix it. The pilot light went on but the burner wouldn't, and someone at some point replaced the thermocouple with a thermopile; the thermostat also wasn't hooked up, but the tech claimed that he hooked it up and still couldn't get the furnace on. We had an HVAC company come out to inspect the furnace, who of course said they didn't recommend putting any money into it and that we needed to replace it. They said it was rusted but had no visible cracks, but also couldn't guarantee there weren't invisible cracks that could pump carbon monoxide into the house. After quoting us over $14,000 to replace the entire furnace (which would involve cutting new vents into these old hardwood floors), I became determined to find someone who could repair our furnace. That's harder than it sounds when most HVAC companies just want to sell you an entirely new system for tens of thousands of dollars, won't touch the old furnaces, and tell you all of the parts are obsolete and aren't made anymore. After finding three different sources that said modern parts can be switched out on these old furnaces and that pretty much anything can be repaired except a ruptured firebox, I started searching even harder for someone local who repairs floor furnaces. Finally stumbled on Chris Levering's info, who happens to be in San Leandro, too. I left him a voicemail, he called back a short time later that day, and came out the next morning. He explained the issue, what it would take to fix the furnace (said he was essentially rebuilding the furnace), was very transparent about pricing, and in somewhere between an hour or two we had a working furnace again. He also replaced our thermostat with a digital, programmable one. Our grand total was a little over $1300 for everything. Chris also found that at some point, someone tried to use a part for an ice machine to repair the furnace. He also noticed that the PG&E tech didn't hook up the thermostat properly. Just incompetence all around from the people that came before Chris. We have carbon monoxide detectors (including one on the wall right above one of the floor vents, in the hallway outside our bedroom), and after determining they're new and working fine, were relieved that they weren't going off. Incredibly grateful to Chris for his knowledge and hard work. We'd been sitting in an icebox (really not much of an exaggeration given the internal temperature of the house, which was similar to what it was outside), our house growing gradually colder as we approached winter. I knew, with all of the old homes in the Bay Area that have floor furnaces (my parents' and grandma's included), there had to be someone around servicing them when they had problems. If you're having issues with your floor furnace in your old home, reach out to Chris before shelling out tens of thousands on a new furnace just because an HVAC company says you should. Second, third, even fifth opinions can save you serious money. It's one thing if it's determined to be unsafe, but if it's a matter of worn out (or incorrect) parts, call Chris to take a look. read more

Chris was outstanding! He was extremely responsive and easy to work with. My furnace went out during the worst time (recent storm and cold weather). I called another vendor who couldn't fix the issue for several days. I immediately searched for a referral from my neighborhood. Chris came recommended, so I took a change. Best decision. Chris was available to troubleshoot, purchase the part and install all in the same day. He kept me posted on his arrival time and he communicated clearly throughout the repair. He even went the extra mile, by relocating my Nest thermostat at no additional charge. I highly recommend Chris! read more

my old furnace needed looking at. I called him because 2 folks on nextdoor said he was good. on the phone he said it was $99 and if he was going to fix something would be $299 an hour. I was fine with that. when he came he checked it out for maybe 20 min and said furnace was pretty old and would cost $1800 so I said I will have to think of the next best step for me. He had a flip phone that opens up and I said " oh wow cool your phone opens up". He said " oh yeah it's great for porn" so disgusting and my daughter heard him. Creep he charged me $398 just for 20 min and to tell me that. I said I though it was only $99 he said oh no 99 was just my drive fee here and I charge $299 for each hour I'm here. I felt I got scammed! read more

Someone said he is incredibly arrogant and rude. He is. His rate to just come out and review the issue is the same rate as it would be if you hire a lawyer. He spoke to me in a really disrespectful manner and tone. I don't know if he really hates his work or hates talking to customers but either way he clearly doesn't need the business. The tenant has a new baby, they requested someone entering to wear a mask due to Covid and he said "I wish I could say I won't do business with anyone who requires a mask. It can't be done because you need to smell gas." There are gas readers, that's ridiculous. It's also not safe during the pandemic. Chris I wish you the best and if you're unhappy man, I hope you retire soon. read more

I had another HVAC company come out and they said we need a new system for $12,000. I was fortunate to contact Chris and he spent about 3 hours fixed the problem for a very reasonable price!!!!! In the future I will have him check my unit annually. read more

Chris returned the calls quickly and was able to get out to our house the same day. He was willing to make a special effort because we weren't home at the time. Chris gave us an estimate over the phone for the repair, but then said he didn't think it was worth fixing because our furnace was old. He doesn't do installations so he recommended a contractor that we eventually used. I would recommend him. He was responsive and communicated the issues very clearly. read more

Our very old floor heater stopped working. Most companies don't know how these work and encourage you to buy new systems. Chris came out the same day and fixed the pilot generator. He was not cheap but super fast and fixed the problem right away. He explained what was happening and was transparent about pricing-- so easy to work with. read more

We had a Service Tech named Chris come over to our home. After talking to him on the phone before our scheduled spot. Then in our home. He was belligerent and very aggressive and short ,extremely rude , unprofessional. He asked if me on the phone before he came out for the first appointment if anyone was sick in our home. I said my wife was.He rudely asked me to have my wife leave the home and rid herself. Under no circumstances will my life leave our home battling a flu. I was like whom is he talking to?? When he arrived for the 1st appointment I tried to ask him questions about our heater issue. He was adrupt and defensive and arrogant with his words and actions. He asked starting a conversation where I work . I told him an electronics company . I mentioned we do a lot of work for Kaiser Permanente. He then attacked me verbally and said not discuss Kaiser around him. He explained his bad experience with Kaiser his lawsuit , bad nurses and was venting his anger and displeasure . Our heater then failed. We then had to reschedule him to come back out again. When he returned he arrived with a bad attitude. He had a battle and fight with trying to replacing the part. He then starting cussing and swearing in our home in front of my wife!! Unacceptable! I was sick battling the flu myself. He is lucky I did not kick him out of . I am going to report him to the Contractors License Board ASAP. Horrible customer service and unprofessional conduct. If I was the business owner he would be immediately terminated. Chris or the company will never step foot back inside my home. read more

I called Chris because my thermostat was broken, and I wanted to have a new one installed. Chris arrived shortly after I called him. He tested the thermostat, and it was indeed broken. He also went under my house to inspect my furnace and made some adjustments. He tried to replace some duct work, but wasn't able to remove the old ducts. Chris spent a little over an hour to do the job. The total charge came to $410. I asked him how much of that was for the actual thermostat. He told me that it was $150. He said he had paid $60 for it. I thought that this markup was high. Later, I found that it was available on Amazon for less than $28. I'm giving Chris three stars because he is competent, and he did get the job done. However, I feel that a $122 markup on a $28 part is excessive. read more

Chris Levering Heating & Air Conditioning - This is the $27.71 thermostat that Chris charged $150 for. He told me that he had paid $60 for it. - Heating & Air Conditioning/HVAC Near Me - San Leandro, California

Woke up to a chilly house and realized my furnace wasn't doing what it should. I called Chris around 1, he was here at 2 and my furnace is fixed by 3:30. My thermostat is old too and I asked about getting a new one. Yup, had one on the truck and now I have a brand spanking new thermostat too! I could not be more pleased with my experience - efficient, friendly, thoughtful, and most importantly, got the job done! Thank you!! read more

We have an old sub-floor furnace and Chris is the go to guy. Even though he's the only one around who works on these things and he knows his stuff. He can definitely and get you sorted. read more

Chris has come out over the years on two occasions to successfully repair our AC unit. More recently, he diagnosed a problem with our heating unit, which now thankfully works again. 5 stars for Chris Levering Heating and AC. read more

Amazing! Chris was recommended by my co-worker, and came in on hours notice when our 32 year old TRANE furnace started acting (short cycles). Within a few minutes he had it running, called the local installation company on our behalf and will send pictures of that museum piece to be replaced, hopefully this week. Very honest guy, told me how much it will cost to get our old system properly fixed and recommended not do it but go with the same brand, new system. It was easy to agree since the house was warm again. I'm keeping Chris contact information to do a regular maintenance on our new system when it will be up and running. The guy deserves my business and I will pass my recommendation to my co-workers and neighbors. read more

Chris came on short notice, and spent several days cleaning, fixing, and rebuilding our floor furnace. He was incredibly responsive, attentive, and good-humored - and, he saved us the hassle of having to install an entirely new heating system. Everything is in working order now, all because of him, and we could not be more grateful. Next time we need anything HVAC-related, we're calling him. read more

Chris is the real deal. I called several heating companies before Chris was recommended to me as someone who still worked on the old floor furnaces in my old house. They are usually not terrible accessible but as long as there was plastic on the wet ground, he was willing to belly crawl to it in my low crawl space. I called Chris because PG&E was not able to relight my pilot light (no heat!). They claimed some valve needed to be replaced which turned out not to be the case. Chris came to evaluate the situation and he was more knowledgeable to informative than anyone I had spoken with so far. He identified an issue with the exhaust pipe that no one else had mentioned. He had to leave for another appointment before starting work with my heater but he called and walked me through some trouble shooting (that I would have expected PGE to do) and I eventually was able to relight the pilot myself. I was so pleased and grateful that an expensive repair was not needed. And grateful to Chris that he was so knowledgeable and honest and patient while he helped me on the phone. Hire Chris, he will not let you down!! read more

Thanks to Chris for coming right out the same day I called him. He quickly diagnosed and fixed the problem with our old forced air furnace, and gave us some helpful advice in the process. He was also very upfront about the cost. Furnace working so much better now. Five-star service. Highly recommended! read more

Chris was very responsive, friendly and timely. He came to our house the same day we called within a few hours. I appreciate his same day flexibility because we have a dog we can't leave at home without AC on a hot day. Our AC was fixed in a couple days due to a part that had to be ordered. Overall, I would totally use Chris again in a heartbeat. Great service! read more

Our (very very old) floor furnace had the pilot light go out, and was thus leaking gas. We weren't sure how to relight it (did I mention it was very old?), and needed an expert to come out and take a look. Chris was referred by a different heating company (Atlas) that no longer had someone on staff who worked on heaters like ours. He squeezed us into his schedule the same day I called -- the day after Thanksgiving! -- and fixed the problem very quickly, professionally, and clearly. I wouldn't hesitate to hire him for a larger repair job if the furnace breaks in a more substantial manner in the future. read more

Chris was very responsive when I called about a heating issue. He took the time to walk me through the problem over the phone so that I could successfully fix the issue myself. I'm sure that many other HVAC companies would have come out and billed me for a service call that took me about 2 minutes to fix myself. Chris put customer service over billable hours. Chris is a true professional and I highly recommend his company for your HVAC needs. read more

I'm grateful for sincere dedication that Chris has. In the middle of a cold snap, the 28 year old furnace that keeps my tenants warm stopped working. He came out quickly, diagnosed, got the part, and repaired. It's what we would hope to find in any service provider. read more

Chris totally did a great job on short notice. He called to set time same day, called when on his way, and communicated with me completely as he worked on the heater. Reliable, honest and truly cares about providing a great service. Hard to find these days! Thanks Chris! read more

I have an old floor furnace (as in over 50 years old). I called Atlas Heating and they no longer service these but referred me to Chris. Chris came out, diagnosed the problem, took a very old and rusted part to a machine shop where a new one was fashioned (because they no longer make parts). He also replaced the pilot generator. Hallelujah...it's been over a week and the heater works great!! It used to go out regularly and we'd have to relight the pilot. I only have one floor furnace to heat an old 2 story house. The wind is very strong today and it's not blowing out!. Thank you Chris!! read more

Our air conditioner broke on the weekend during the recent heatwave, and I couldn't get a repair appointment (and dreaded sweating it out for several days until someone could come). Fortunately, Chris had a cancellation and was able to fit us in. He quickly found the problem and replaced the broken part. He was very thorough in checking out the rest of our (old/dated) system and made recommendations. He was very friendly and humorous and didn't mind me watching and asking questions. He also suggested adding a starter capacitor to help extend the life of our system, but didn't pressure in any way. I'm so thankful Chris did a timely and much-needed repair, and highly recommend him to help with your air conditioning issues! read more

Came by the house to fix our struggling AC unit same day! Was great at explaining what was going on and skilled at quickly diagnosing and fixing the issue. Would highly recommend! read more

Chris is our "go-to" guy for any air conditioning repairs. He is prompt, professional, and incredibly knowledgable in his trade. He has worked on our A.C. unit several times now, and always goes above and beyond to make sure everything is working smoothly. He even went out of his way to give us advice on how to make sure our unit is filtering the air from the wildfire smoke. read more

My heater wasn't working for over a year he had great reasonable prices! We set a date he came over checked it out. And knew exactly what the problem was fixed it and the rest is history read more

I called Chris Levering to inquire about a furnace inspection. Even though he was not able to accept the job at the time, he offered me advice, referred me to another business that I could trust and even took the time to coordinate the referral himself with a phone call. The mark of a true professional. He took the time to ask me questions about the condition of our furnace to let me know there may be a safety issue in what he discerned from my description and even talked me through a visual inspection where I could take a photo and then send it to him for review. All that for a customer he was not going to even receive work from at the time. I will recommend him to others and will call on his business again for future needs as well. read more

I would have given five stars as the work was efficient and promptly completed. My problem was with the markup on the part needed. Chris returned my phone call from the previous night and came out that day to fix my heater. I appreciated that very much. He quickly discovered that I needed a new ignition control board. He called a supplier and told me it would be $586.00 for the part. Ouch! I needed my heater fix, so I agreed. Everything was completed and it took an hour. He previously told me his labor cost is $199.00 plus a $75.00 one time fee for coming out. I got an invoice for $860.00, which really stung. I felt the price of the part was very high, so I did some research online. I found the part for $187-240.00. I spoke with Chris and told him this. Not sure I understood his answer. I then looked up the supplier and made a visit. Little did I know it was a wholesale supplier and he would not give me the price. That meant Chris marked up the part quite a bit. I calculated a $400+ markup. He made $860.00 minus his cost for the part from a senior citizen. That is not sitting well with me. read more

I need to differ from the almost unanimous approval rating, as I did not have a good experience. I understood the deal with the $75 charge to come out and diagnose the problem, but when i spoke to Chris on the phone about the particular situation I was facing, which was a rusted-out roof vent, I was careful to ask him if this was something he could address.Despite his positive answer on the phone, it turned out onsite that no, he couldn't do anything with this job but that yes, I definitely owed $75 for the service call. Apparently this was a job for a sheet metal contractor only. While I understand that Chris may not have had a precise picture of the problem during the phone call, he certainly had the opportunity to ask follow-up questions, which I had invited during our phone conversation. In addition, my house in San Leandro was not exactly out of his way; it was on his way back from El Cerrito, essentially on his way home. I think Chris charging me $75 for something that was not in his scope of service, even after I explained the situation as best I could, is unprofessional. I am giving Chris the benefit of two stars as I understand that many others have been happy with his service. I wish I could have gotten that far. read more

Chris was able to fix an old floor heater that we thought we'd need to replace. He had all the parts needed to fix the old heater. Chris was very responsive, and I would recommend! read more

My heater has been an ongoing problem - I had called Olsson Plumbing and Heating out at least twice a year for 6 years to try to fix an exhaust limiter issue which made my heater trip off every 20 min. Fast forward to this year and Olsson is no longer fixing heaters. In my distress I turn to Chris on yelp; not only does he answer quickly but he is at my house 20 min later. It takes Chris about 5 min to notice that the exhaust is not venting and to pull the vent duct and see it is full of sand. He vacuumed it for me, replaced it and was on his way with my heater finally fixed. In and out in less than 20 min with a real fix. Chris you have won my business and my word of mouth. One man did what Olsson couldn't do in 6 years. Thank You! Sarah read more

My thermostat stopped working after I changed the batteries in it. I very luckily found Chris online and he got it all working quickly. As it turned out, my "new batteries" didn't work. So Chris put new batteries he had on his truck and didn't even charge me for them. He is very easy to work with and extremely knowledgeable. I will definitely ask Chris to take care of much bigger jobs in the future. I highly recommend. read more

Writing this review for a dear friend of mine, who unfortunately does not have a Yelp account. Chris replaced her furnace on this past December, and she received quality service. He was informative as to what units would be appropriate and even helped her to compare units. He was very polite, and she was incredibly impressed by the personable service. The installation went well and he completely cleaned up after he finished. Several months later, an inspector came to check out the installation. The furnace was not in compliance and needed something else (unforeseen) completed. Without hesitation, Chris came back to satisfy the inspector's requirements at no cost. This is a highly-recommended company providing exemplary service. My friend could not have asked for more. read more

Chris is such a great guy. A friend had used Chris Levering's before and had a great experience, so we decided to give him a call with our problems. We were hoping to get him to come check out our furnace within a couple of days, but to our surprise, he was willing to go out of his way to service our furnace on the same day. He is very friendly, profession, and his knowledge on HVAC is solid. We will have Chris's magnets on our fridge so we can always have a trustworthy technician by our side. read more

My AC went out on a day when it was 90 degrees outside and it was miserable in the house. I called Chris first thing Monday morning at 7am and he was at my house by 10am. He found that my capacitor was blown and educated me on what exactly a capacitor did. On Tuesday, Chris, Alex and Christian came by at the promised time and replaced my capacitor, serviced my AC/furnace and found/fixed leaking ducts in my attic. It's amazing when you get to have the work done by the owner of the company and two of his employees who were very knowledgeable and friendly. I would recommend Chris to anyone from Berkeley to Hayward. A VERY honest guy who spends time explaining everything that he's doing and shows you how your entire HVAC system works. I used Service Champions in the past and let me tell you, Chris and his guys are at a whole new level of competency compared to those yahoos...and they don't keep spamming you with phone calls like Service Champions. read more