HVAC Installation and Replacement in Ypsilanti and Southeast Michigan

A full HVAC replacement is the biggest single purchase most homeowners make on their house short of a roof, and it is the one that gets sold hardest. Every large company in Washtenaw and Wayne County runs a sales team whose job is to turn a furnace repair into a system replacement. Temprasure does not have a sales team. Al looks at the equipment, tells you whether it is worth keeping, and only quotes a new system when the age, the refrigerant, the heat exchanger or the repair cost actually justifies it. Several of our reviews come from people who called us for a second opinion on a replacement someone else had already quoted and left with a repaired furnace instead. When replacement is the right answer, the same honesty applies to how we size it, what we recommend and what we charge.

Most of the systems we replace in Southeast Michigan are a gas furnace paired with a split-system air conditioner. The furnace is an 80% or 90%-plus AFUE unit vented either up the existing chimney or out the side wall in PVC, fed by DTE gas, and the condenser sits on a pad outside with the evaporator coil on top of the furnace in the basement. Since 2025 the new condensers and coils use R-454B or R-32 refrigerant instead of R-410A, which changes the line set, the coil and the leak detection requirements, and we install to the new standard rather than fitting old components to new equipment. We also replace heat pump systems and dual-fuel setups where a heat pump carries the shoulder seasons and a gas furnace takes over when it drops below the balance point, which in this climate is a real consideration given 6,000-plus heating degree days a year.

Sizing is where installations go wrong, and it is where we spend the most time before quoting. A furnace matched to the old one's nameplate is usually too big, because the house has picked up insulation, windows and air sealing since the original went in, and an oversized furnace short-cycles, runs loud and wears out early. We run a Manual J load calculation on the house, which accounts for the square footage, the orientation, the window area, the insulation levels in a 1960s ranch versus a 2005 colonial, and the design temperatures for this part of Michigan. The result is the right furnace capacity and the right AC tonnage, and then a Manual D check tells us whether the existing ductwork can actually move that much air. If the return is undersized or the trunk is choked, we tell you before the install, not after the new system has the same airflow complaints the old one did.

On installation day you get the owner on the job, not a crew that has never seen the house. The old equipment comes out, the refrigerant is recovered legally, the furnace is set level on a pad with a proper drain and trap, the coil is matched to the condenser, the line set is flushed or replaced, the system is evacuated to a deep vacuum and charged by weight and then verified by subcooling, and the gas line, venting and condensate are done to code. We pull the mechanical permit in Washtenaw County, Wayne County or whichever municipality has jurisdiction and schedule the inspection, because an unpermitted install creates a problem the day you sell the house. Then we commission the system: static pressure, temperature rise, combustion analysis, charge verification and a thermostat walk-through, all written down for your records.

Estimates for a new system are free and carry no obligation. We put the equipment options in writing, explain the difference between single-stage, two-stage and variable-speed in terms of your actual house, and tell you which DTE or Consumers rebates and federal credits apply to the equipment you are considering. Then we leave you alone to decide.