What a tune up actually covers, and why the season matters

Why spring is for the air conditioner and fall is for the furnace

Recommending an air conditioner tune up in spring and a furnace tune up in fall is not a marketing rule for us. It is when each system is about to do most of its work for the year, and the point is to find a problem while it is still an inconvenience instead of a breakdown. A weak part found in April costs you an appointment. The same part found in July, during the first real heat wave, costs you a week without air conditioning while every other homeowner in the Fox Cities is calling in for the same thing.

The same logic runs the other way in the fall. A furnace that has not run since March gets checked and cleared before the first cold night asks it to run for hours at a stretch, not after.

It also spreads the work out over the year instead of stacking it all into the two weeks everyone else in the Fox Cities also needs a technician. Booking a spring AC tune up means you are not competing for a same day slot during the first heat wave, and booking a fall furnace tune up means the same for the first cold snap.

What actually happens during the visit

A tune up means a technician runs the system through an actual cycle rather than just glancing at it, and checks how it is performing against what it should be doing. If something is found that needs more than routine maintenance, you get a free estimate on that repair before any work beyond the tune up itself happens. Nothing gets fixed without you agreeing to it first.

This is also the cheapest way to catch a problem. The company's own reasoning is that catching something small at a tune up can save real money, on the order of a hundred to a thousand dollars, compared to letting the same issue turn into a full breakdown and an emergency call later.

What it costs, and what's included

• Gas furnace tune up: $99.95
• Air conditioner tune up: $99.95
• Combination tune up, furnace and air conditioner booked together: $199.95
• No trip charge inside the Fox Cities. Some surrounding towns carry a $25 trip charge.

These are the company's own published specials and, like any published price, they are subject to change, so confirm the current price when you book. The same visit also qualifies for the furnace and AC installation special of $400 off if the technician finds the system is past the point of a reasonable repair, though that is never the assumption going in.

Why skipping a year costs more than the tune up itself

It is easy to skip a tune up on a system that seems to be running fine, and most years that costs nothing. The risk is not any single skipped year, it is that a small amount of wear or dust builds up quietly and does not announce itself until the system is already under real load, which in the Fox Cities means the first heat wave or the first hard freeze. At that point the same fix that would have been a scheduled appointment during a tune up becomes an emergency call, and an emergency call after hours or during a stretch of extreme weather is a longer wait than a two hour scheduled window.

If you would rather not think about scheduling it at all

For homeowners who want the tune up handled automatically instead of remembered, there is an Energy Saving Agreement membership. It includes the annual furnace and AC tune up, a fifteen percent discount on repair parts, the regular rate rather than an after hours markup on emergency calls, priority scheduling, and it transfers with you if you move. We contact members to schedule the tune up rather than the other way around.

Either way, the point of the visit is the same. Catch it in April or October, not in the middle of the week you actually needed the system to work. A tune up appointment fits into a normal weekday morning. An emergency call at the peak of the season rarely does.