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Houses, on whatever fuel they run
Huntington, Huntington Station, Cold Spring Harbor, Northport and Melville. Oil, gas, propane, electric and heat pumps; boilers and warm air; ducts and ductless.
The call, and what happens next
There is no heat and it is freezing.
Two things worth thirty seconds before we come out, and between them they account for a real share of winter call-outs:
- The emergency switch at the top of the basement stairs. It is red, it looks like a light switch, and it gets knocked.
- The thermostat — whether it is actually calling, and whether its batteries are flat.
If both are fine, something has genuinely failed and it is worth the visit rather than more poking about.
What will you look at?
In this order, and the order matters because it goes cheapest first.
- On oil: the nozzle, oil filter, strainer and electrodes, then combustion tested with instruments. Most no-heat calls on oil end here.
- On gas or propane: ignition sequence, flame sensing, the pressure switch and limits. Safeties get tested, never bypassed.
- On a boiler: circulators, zone valves and the expansion vessel, which is where most boiler faults actually live.
- On a heat pump: reversing valve in both modes, defrost watched through, and back-up heat staging.
- On all of them: the heat exchanger. Compromised means shut off, not repaired, and that is not a negotiation whatever the forecast says.
A house with no ducts
Most houses here that heat by boiler have nothing to connect cooling to. That leaves ductless heads, a small-duct system, or building ducts in — and the last one is mostly carpentry rather than heating work.
Where two rooms are the problem and the rest of the house is fine, two heads is frequently the honest answer. It is a smaller job and it gets proposed less often for exactly that reason.
- Each head sized for its own roomSizing them all the same defeats the point and leaves rooms humid in August.
- Line-set routing agreed before anybody drillsWhich elevation, where the covers run, and how they reach the outdoor unit.
- Condensate that actually drainsBy gravity where it can and by a pump where it cannot. It is the commonest fault we attend on these.
- Outdoor unit clear of standing waterAnd high enough that winter does not bury it.
Before a quotation exists
- A load calculation for your houseRoom by room, from orientation, glazing, shading, insulation and use. Not from the badge on the old appliance.
- Distribution assessedStatic pressure where there are ducts; the circuit and emitters where there is a boiler. This decides whether a new appliance will actually feel better.
- Electrical supply checkedParticularly where a heat pump is being considered. It is what turns a simple change into a larger job.
- The tank looked atOn oil. It is a separate question from the appliance and it is frequently older.
- Permit filedWith the town or village office covering your address, and named in the quotation.
- Model numbers givenA brand name is not a specification. Without model numbers, two quotations cannot be compared at all.