The heat is off, it's the middle of the night, and it's cold. Here's a short order of operations.
Check these four things
The thermostat. Set to heat, and set above the current room temperature. If it's battery powered and the screen is blank or faint, change the batteries. We've driven out at three in the morning for dead thermostat batteries more than once.
The breaker. Furnaces are often on their own circuit. A tripped breaker has to be pushed fully off before it'll reset. If it trips again straight away, stop and leave it off. That's a fault, not a fluke.
The furnace switch. There's usually a switch that looks like a light switch on or near the unit. It gets flipped by accident more often than you'd think, especially in a basement or a utility room.
The filter. A completely blocked filter can shut a furnace down on a safety limit. If yours is black, pull it out, run the system without it for now, and replace it in the morning.
Three things that make it worse
- Repeatedly resetting the breaker. If a furnace is tripping a breaker there's a reason, and cycling it can turn a component failure into a bigger one.
- Using the oven for heat. A gas oven left open is a real carbon monoxide risk in a closed up house. Don't.
- Running space heaters on extension cords. Portable heaters draw a lot of current. Plug them straight into a wall outlet, one per circuit, and keep them clear of anything that can burn.
Staying safe until somebody gets there
Close off rooms you aren't using. Open cabinet doors under sinks on exterior walls so a little warm air reaches the plumbing. If the house is going to sit well below freezing for a long stretch and you're worried about pipes, let a faucet on the coldest run drip. Layer up. Sleeping bags and blankets do more than people expect.
What happens when you call
A person answers. Not a queue, and not a service that takes a message and passes it along in the morning.
We'll ask what the system is doing, what you've already tried, and where you are. Then you get a straight answer on timing. If we can be there soon, we say when. If we're already on another emergency and somebody closer can reach you faster tonight, we say that too. At two in the morning what you need is heat.
The number is (573) 693-8863.
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