Send photos of the system — get a realistic range
What to include
- The outdoor unit, and its data plate close enough to read.
- The furnace or air handler, and its plate.
- The thermostat, showing whatever it currently says.
- The filter, with the size legible on the frame.
- Anything visibly wrong: ice, water, soot, a burner that will not hold.
- Your ZIP code, and who supplies your electricity — it decides which rebates apply.
What comes back
The age and size of the system, what the symptom usually means at that age, the repair-or-replace read, and ranges for both. Usually one question attached.
What happens to what you send
It gets read and answered. It does not get sold, listed, or handed to a call center. There is no showroom to visit and no counter to stand at: the whole business is photographs in and a written read back, and printing an address on a card would be decoration rather than information.
If this is happening right now
Gas smell: leave the house, then call PG&E or 911 from outside — do not touch switches on the way. CO alarm sounding: everyone outside first, system off, and no one goes back in until it has been checked. In heat above 100°, a house with no cooling and someone elderly or very young in it is a health call before it is an HVAC call.