The short answer
ClearSky Heating & Cooling serves Lexington Hills in unincorporated Santa Clara County, about 16 miles south of San Jose. We repair furnaces and heat pumps, install ductless mini-splits and offer filtration and duct work for smoke, dust and cold mountain nights.
Lexington Hills is an unincorporated mountain community in Santa Clara County, about 16 miles south of our San Jose base, up in the forested hills above the southern end of the valley. Houses here are scattered along winding roads, often on steep lots surrounded by trees, and the weather can feel quite different from the valley floor below. Nights get colder, shade lingers and smoke is a real concern in fire season. ClearSky Heating & Cooling handles heating repair, heat pump and mini-split installation, maintenance and air quality work for these homes, with visits planned around the drive and the terrain.
Above the valley, a cooler routine
Down in the southern Santa Clara Valley, summers run hot and dry. Up in the hills, elevation and tree cover soften daytime heat and make evenings noticeably colder. Plenty of Lexington Hills households heat their homes for much of the year and only need cooling on the warmest afternoons.
That puts the heating system at the center of comfort. A furnace that lights slowly, a heat pump that frosts over and struggles to defrost, or a blower that rattles on startup should be checked before winter rather than after it fails on a cold night.
- Furnace ignition and flame sensor service
- Heat pump defrost and reversing valve checks
- Blower motor and belt inspection
- Thermostat calibration and wiring
Smoke season and indoor air
Forested communities face smoke from wildfires near and far. When the air outside turns hazy, a home's HVAC system becomes its main line of defense, but only if the filter and ducts are up to the task. Thin filters let fine particles pass straight through, and gaps in return ducts can pull smoky attic air into the living space.
We can install a deeper media filter cabinet, seal return ducts and show you how to run the system on recirculation during smoky periods. Before upgrading filtration, we check that your blower can move enough air through the denser media. After a smoky season, a duct inspection and cleaning clears out settled ash and soot.
Ductless systems for spread-out floor plans
Mountain houses are often built in stages, stepped down a hillside, with rooms that sit far from the original furnace. Some rely on a wood stove or space heaters for the outlying rooms. Ductless mini-splits are a natural fit. Each indoor head conditions its own room, the line set travels through a small wall opening, and one outdoor unit can feed several heads.
Mini-splits also remove the need for ducts through tight crawlspaces or unfinished attics, which can be hard to reach and insulate on a steep lot.
Heat pumps and the Air District rules
Bay Area Air District Rule 9-4 requires natural gas furnaces manufactured from 2029 to meet a zero-NOx standard, which in practice points homeowners toward heat pumps when replacing a furnace after that date. The rules do not force anyone to remove equipment that is still working; they apply when a furnace fails or is replaced.
Heat pumps sized correctly for colder hillside nights perform well here, and cold-climate models hold their output at lower temperatures. The federal 25C credit no longer applies to heat pumps placed in service after December 31, 2025. BayREN and your local clean energy provider may offer incentives, which we confirm before quoting.
Getting a technician up the hill
Mountain roads and long driveways make preparation important. When you book, tell us what equipment you have, where it sits, how to get to it and what symptoms you have noticed. If outdoor units are on a slope or behind a gate, a quick note saves time. We aim to arrive with the parts most likely to be needed so the job can be completed in one trip.
Permitted installations in unincorporated Santa Clara County are filed with the county, and we take care of that. Our technicians also serve Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Saratoga, Campbell and Cupertino below the hills.