Commercial Heating Repair & Service in Southern California and Arizona

What does commercial heating repair cover?

Commercial heating repair covers heat loss at a commercial site: gas heat sections on rooftop packaged units, heat pumps on rooftop and split systems, and back-of-house unit heaters, across all makes and models.

Common faults are ignition controls that will not light, gas valve problems, heat exchangers that are cracked or overheating, heat pumps stuck in defrost, and reversing valves that will not shift. REE Mechanical Inc. is licensed, bonded and insured, and our own technicians do the work rather than a subcontracted network.

Why do heat sections fail on the first cold morning?

Because in Southern California and Arizona they may sit idle for most of the year. A heat section left idle while the unit cooled all summer often reveals its fault the first night it is asked to light.

The inland valleys and the high desert drop hard overnight, and Arizona’s desert sites see the same swing on winter nights. A store that has run cooling for months can open on a cold morning to find the heat never came on. A stuck economizer makes it worse by pulling cold outside air across a burner that is already struggling.

What are the warning signs of a heating failure?

Common signs are a fan blowing cold air with heat called, repeated ignition attempts ending in lockout, soot or scorching near the flue, and a heat pump coil that stays iced after defrost.

• The blower runs but the supply air never warms.
• The burner tries to light several times, then locks out with a fault code.
• Soot, scorch marks, or rust around the heat section, flue, or vent.
• An outdoor heat pump coil still frozen after a defrost cycle.
• Auxiliary or emergency heat running far more often than usual.
• A dock or stockroom heater that will not fire on the first cold morning.

What should store staff do if they smell gas?

Treat it as a safety event first. Move people away from the area, avoid operating switches near the smell, and call the gas utility or emergency services. Then call us to repair the equipment.

Safety is the first of our five core values, and it sets the order of every heating call. A suspected gas or combustion fault is a safety call first and a comfort call second. Gas-side work involves combustion, venting, and fuel connections, and it belongs with licensed, qualified technicians, never a general handyman.

What happens when you call in a heating failure?

Vanny Weber, our Scheduling and Operations Lead, puts the call on the board and gets a technician moving toward your site. We are on call 24/7, cold nights included.

Priority accounts get a technician on site within 4 hours once site documentation and roof access are in place (actual arrival varies with location and conditions). Every visit is reported through your IVR or work-order system, so the facilities desk can see which sites lost heat and what was found at each.

What does a heating repair visit check?

A heating repair visit restores safe operation first, then heat. The technician checks the whole ignition and combustion sequence, not only the part that failed, because one failure often hides another.

1. Confirm the call for heat at the thermostat or controller.
2. Walk the ignition sequence: inducer motor, pressure switch, igniter, and flame sensor.
3. Test the gas valve and confirm supply and manifold pressure against manufacturer data.
4. Inspect the heat exchanger for cracks, corrosion, or signs of overheating.
5. Check the flue and venting for blockage and proper draft.
6. Test high-limit and rollout safeties.
7. On heat pumps, check defrost controls, the reversing valve, and auxiliary heat.
8. Confirm the economizer closes when the unit is heating.

What happens if the heat exchanger is cracked?

As standard industry practice, a cracked heat exchanger is taken out of service until it is repaired or replaced, because it can let combustion gases into the airstream. Restarting it to get through the day is not an option.

At that point the question is whether to replace the heat exchanger or the unit. Jessica Bresciani, our Estimating Operations Lead, turns the technician’s findings into a quote so you can make that call with real numbers. A unit commonly planned on a service life in the mid-teens of years may not justify a new heat exchanger late in that span. Permit and inspection requirements for major gas components vary by jurisdiction, so check local requirements before the work is scheduled.

How can a portfolio avoid winter heating calls?

Exercise and inspect heat sections before the season, not on the first cold night. A fall maintenance visit that lights every burner and tests every safety catches many of these faults while the weather is still mild.

Michael Herbranson, our Training and Safety Director, trains our technicians on preventive maintenance. Exercising heat sections ahead of the season is a standard task in our maintenance programs. When several sites share the same unit model, a pattern of heating failures is worth reviewing before the next winter. See preventive maintenance and tune-up programs and our peak season readiness guide.

Where do we repair commercial heating?

We handle heating repair in Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside, and San Diego counties and anywhere in Arizona. The coldest nights tend to land in the inland valleys, the high desert, and Arizona’s high country.

See all service areas, including San Bernardino County and Riverside County.

Report a heating failure

Call (800) 742-0910. Dock and warehouse heaters are covered under unit heater and air curtain repair, and units at end of life under rooftop unit installation and replacement.