With the season’s first freezing temperatures this weekend, we thought this would be a good opportunity to offer suggestions of what you as a homeowner can check before placing an emergency service call.  Of course only do what you are comfortable doing, and never open the panels of  units to access internal parts or mess with electrical components other than breakers at your main panel.  If you have any doubts, do not attempt, just call and we’ll be happy to help.

1. Check your Thermostat: Is the Thermostat on?  Is it set to heat?  Is the inside temperature 2 degrees or more lower than the setpoint temp?  If your digital thermostat is blank, depending on the model, the batteries may have died and a simple battery change can fix the problem.  Follow your thermostat users manual for instructions.  With the warm start to fall, there are many customers who have not even turned on the heat yet.  Double check that the thermostat is not still set on cooling or ask us about the automatic changeover thermostats we can install so you can “set it and forget it”.  Some thermostats let the temperature fall as much as 2 degrees below your set point before telling the furnace to turn on.  You can also bump up the setpoint temperature as high as it will go to see if the furnace will come on.  Give it a few minutes as most furnaces have timers that don’t let it turn off and on too quickly.
2. Check the Breaker: Again, only if you are comfortable, go to your home’s main breaker panel and find the breaker for the furnace and/or heat pump.  If it has tripped, reset it and see if it comes on then.  If it immediately trips again, call for service and do not try to reset it again.  More than likely it is an internal electrical issue at the unit or even a bad breaker.
3. Check your Fuel Source: For a heat pump, this is electricity so that is easy enough to check if your home has power.  A natural gas furnace is also piped in from the street so check other natural gas appliances to see if they have gas service, if not call your gas provider.  For Fuel Oil, Kerosene, or Propane, these are delivered to your home and stored in a tank.  Check to make sure you have fuel in your tank with a gauge stick or other way to measure the level of the fuel.  You should have at least 6 inches in the tank to ensure proper operation.  Propane tanks have a gauge at the shutoff valve that reads from 0-100%.  Tanks can only be filled to 80% to allow for expansion and sometimes when the level is at 20% or below, there is not enough propane in the tank to provide consistent gas pressure.  If your tank is low for either home heating oil or propane, call Asheville Oil Company for a delivery before calling a service technician.

These are some basic items to check before having to place an emergency after hours call but please only do what you are comfortable.  We have technicians and delivery drivers on call 24/7 to serve you by calling 828-274-7277 for either service or delivery.  Of course, we recommend doing what you can to prevent an emergency call from being needed in the first place which includes having a heating system tune up through our Preventative Maintenance Agreement program and signing up for our Automatic Keep-Fill program for Asheville Oil Company for heating oil or propane.