Heating
Heating
Furnaces, boilers and the ductwork behind them, sized for an older St. Joseph house or a building that cannot afford to go cold.
Chapter 01
Furnace, boiler or something ducted
Most of Berrien County still runs on a gas, electric or propane furnace, sold, installed, repaired and maintained the same way it has been for decades, and for plenty of houses that is still the right answer. Older homes without existing ductwork are a different question, which is where ductless and mini-split systems come in: they heat a room or a zone without tearing open walls to run new duct.
Beyond that the options get more specific to the house. Boilers and radiant floor heating suit homes already built around hydronic heat, and geothermal is the long-term answer for an owner who wants the ground doing the work instead of a flame or an element. Home automation and advanced thermostats can sit on top of any of the above.
The full City Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning van fleet lined up in the alley behind the State Street shop.
Repair, replace, or run it one more winter
That question comes up every heating season, and the honest answer depends on the age of the unit, what it would cost to keep patching it, and how much a high-efficiency furnace would save on the gas bill over the next few winters. Nobody here has a reason to push a replacement that a repair would fix just as well.
When a new furnace and air conditioner do go in, the job does not end at the install. One review of a recent furnace and AC job specifically called out the crew taking the time to walk the homeowner through the new thermostat and stay until there were no more questions, which is the same standard every install runs to.
Chapter 03
Rooftop units and buildings that cannot go cold
Commercial heating is a different scale of the same trade: rooftop units, air handlers, ventilation and exhaust systems, and refrigeration systems for restaurants, schools, hospitals and office buildings where a failure is not a discomfort, it is a closed kitchen or a building code violation.
Sheet metal fabrication and duct work happen in-house rather than through a sub, which matters when a rooftop unit needs new ductwork run to match it rather than a generic size bolted on. The same crew that installs a residential furnace handles this side of the business.
City Plumbing, Licensed and insured in the state of Michigan. Call (269) 983-6595.