Your home heating system is on the job eight or nine months a year here in northern New Jersey, so it’s no surprise that from time to time may have an issue arise with your furnace or boiler—especially if it’s an older model.

But before you contact a technician for heating repairs, it’s a good idea to do a little troubleshooting to potentially save yourself the cost of a house call—in many cases, your problem may be something that you can correct yourself. 

How To Troubleshoot Before Making A Service Call

If you lose your heat, take these steps before you call for service:

1. Make sure you have heating oil in your tank. If you don’t, schedule a heating oil delivery immediately.
2. Make sure the temperature on your thermostat is set at least five degrees above the current room temperature, and the system switch is on the HEAT or AUTO position. The fan switch should be set to ON for continuous airflow or AUTO.
3. Check all power switches.
4. Check all fuses/circuit breakers.
5. Check the pilot light, if your system has one
6. If you have a furnace or heat pump,
   • Check the air filter if airflow from your vent seems low
   • Make sure all vents are open and not blocked.
   • Make sure the gas control valve to the furnace is open.
7. If you have a boiler,
   • Check to make sure the gas control valve to the boiler is open.

Still Don’t Have Heat? Do These Three Things

If you take all of the above steps and your heat still doesn’t work, contact a technician to diagnose the problem and to make it right as quickly as possible.

In the meantime:

• Don’t panic, but do act quickly—Take immediate steps to retain whatever heat you have in your house: close curtains, block under-door drafts, hang blankets over doorways, etc.
• Use other heat sources, if you have them—If you have other ways to heat your space, such as fireplace, propane space heater, or electric heater, use them.
• Stay safe—NEVER use outdoor equipment (barbecues, outdoor stoves, etc.) indoors—carbon monoxide build up can be extremely dangerous or even deadly.

Prevent no-heat emergencies from fuel run-outs with automatic heating oil delivery in northern NJ from the pros at Fredericks Fuel & Heating Service. Contact us today to learn more!