No heat? Let’s get your house warm again.

Check these five things before you call

A good number of no-heat calls turn out to be something simple. Try these first. If none of them works, stop there and call us.

1. The thermostat

   Make sure it is set to HEAT and a few degrees above room temperature. If it has batteries and the screen is blank or dim, replace them. Set the fan to AUTO, not ON.

2. The air filter

   A filter packed with dust chokes the airflow until the furnace overheats and shuts itself off. If you cannot see light through it, replace it and give the furnace a few minutes to reset.

3. The breaker and the furnace switch

   Look for a tripped breaker labeled furnace or HVAC, and for a light switch on or near the furnace itself. That switch gets flipped off by accident more often than you would think.

4. The furnace door

   Most furnaces will not run if the front panel is not seated. A safety switch behind it keeps the burners off. Push it firmly closed.

5. The status light

   Many furnaces have a small window with a blinking light. Count the blinks and note the pattern. It helps our tech walk in already knowing where to look.

What our tech checks when they get there

We start with the same basics you just checked, because they get missed. Then we work through the parts that fail most often on a cold night:

• Igniter and flame sensor, the two most common causes of a furnace that tries to start and gives up
• Gas valve and gas pressure, set to the manufacturer’s specs
• Pressure switch, inducer motor and venting, including a vent pipe blocked by snow or ice outside
• Limit switches and airflow, from the filter all the way through the ductwork
• Blower motor and capacitor
• Control board, wiring and thermostat
• The heat exchanger, for cracks that can leak carbon monoxide into the house

Then we tell you what we found, what it costs to fix and whether it is worth fixing. Repairs are only made with your approval. If the furnace is old or the problem is serious, we will say so and walk you through your options without pushing. If you want to read ahead, our furnace repair or replace guide explains how we make that call.

Keeping the house safe until we get there

• Close the blinds and curtains and close off rooms you are not using.
• Space heaters help, but keep them three feet from anything that can burn and never run one overnight unattended.
• In a deep cold snap, open the cabinet doors under sinks on outside walls and let a faucet drip so pipes do not freeze.
• Never use a gas oven or grill to heat the house.

One January a customer’s furnace went out with temperatures in the single digits. We offered to bring space heaters over while we sorted it out. That is how we try to treat every no-heat call.

Repairs, installs and tune-ups

We repair and replace furnaces of every brand across north metro Denver, and install high-efficiency Rheem systems. Read more about our furnace repair and installation, our heat pump and boiler service, and the annual furnace tune-up that heads off most of these calls in the first place.