Terms
Terms of use, what this site is, in plain words
Last updated September 2026. The substance of these terms is one sentence: we publish research and make introductions, and the work is done by somebody else under an agreement you make with them.
The Arrangement
What we provide
Cool Comfort Pros publishes information about heating and cooling systems and connects homeowners with independent companies that repair, service and install them. We are not a contractor, we perform no work, we supply no equipment, and we are not party to any agreement you enter into with a company we introduce you to.
We are paid a referral fee by that company. The fee does not vary with the size of the job and does not change what you pay.
Limits
What the information here is and is not
Everything published on this site is general information about how equipment behaves and what symptoms usually indicate. It is not a diagnosis of your system, not an engineering assessment, and not a substitute for measurements taken at your property by somebody qualified to take them.
Where we describe federal rules, on refrigerant handling, certification or efficiency, we describe them as they applied when the page was written, and we cite the agency so you can check the current position yourself. Rules change; our publication date is on the page for that reason.
Nothing here is legal advice, and nothing here is a safety instruction for work we have told you not to attempt. Where we say a task is a technician's, that is the recommendation, and choosing otherwise is your decision and your risk.
The Work Itself
Independent companies
Companies we connect you with are independent businesses. They set their own prices, hold their own licenses and insurance, and are responsible for their own work. Verifying licensing and insurance before work starts is worth the two minutes it takes, and any legitimate company expects to be asked.
Questions about these terms go through contact. How we make money is set out in full on about.
Before you call anyone
The flat-fee match — we are paid for the introduction, not for the size of your job
Most heating and cooling advice is written by the company that wants to do the work. That is not a failing of the people who read it; it is a defect in who is talking: the diagnosis, the estimate and the invoice come from one party, and no amount of care on your side fixes that.
We are built the other way round. We do not repair, install or sell equipment, so the payment reaches us when you are connected to a licensed, insured heating and cooling company — the same amount whether you need a forty-dollar capacitor or a whole new system. Nobody here has a reason to talk you into the larger number. You can check that rather than take it on trust: how we make money is written down, and this site keeps telling readers when not to buy — that a heat pump may not pay off on cheap gas, that most people should buy a hygrometer before a humidifier, that the federal order puts air cleaners last. Why does not everyone work this way? Because a flat fee leaves money on the table every time the job turns out to be big.
Waiting is the one thing that actually costs money. A system that fails in the first heatwave or the first hard freeze puts you in the overtime queue — the federal occupational handbook says this trade works overtime in peak season, and you pay for it. A refrigerant leak on a running system takes the compressor with it; a blocked condensate drain becomes a ceiling. And if it turns out to be a filter, say so on the call. We will tell you, and that call earns us nothing.
Not for you if: you want a price over the phone — nobody honest gives one without seeing the house; you need a guarantee of same-day arrival — we cannot promise that for a company we do not run; the building is commercial; or you would rather do it yourself, in which case the pages on this site are written so that you can.