It’s been a truly old-fashioned winter in the Albany, N.Y. area this year, with temperatures plummeting to record lows and furnaces struggling to keep up with the chill. That extra work load is the stuff that separates the healthy heating systems from the ones that might not be quite as ready for the challenge … potentially leaving some folks out in the cold.
Family Danz Heating & Cooling hopes a heating emergency never happens to you, but if your furnace ever quits on you, the best way to avoid a serious situation is by knowing what to do in advance. It’s a given that the furnace won’t conk out on a warm, sunny day — why would you be running it then, anyways? — so every moment you delay trying to figure out what to do sends the temperature of your home lower and lower.
If you wake up with a shiver to find your furnace is not running, here are a few steps to take before calling Family Danz for help. If you have an electric heating system, start by checking your circuit breakers or fuses. There might have been a surge that tripped off the electrical power. Flipping the circuit back on could get your furnace started again.
Take the time right now to locate your furnace’s emergency shut off switch. It’s a lot easier to do it now, than in the middle of the night during a frenzied heating emergency. It’s normally the size and shape of an ordinary light switch, except that it is red. If it is anywhere that is easily accessible, it might have been shut off accidentally. Switching it back on could alleviate the emergency.
While you are checking the location of that switch, inspect your furnace to see if you have a red reset button, usually located near the front around the burner. You’ll want to push that reset button if the first two steps didn’t get your furnace working.
While these steps hopefully get your furnace started up again, it‘s likely a good idea to give us a call to schedule a heating system checkup anyways. Even if you are running fine now, something triggered that shutdown, and it‘ll be a good idea for our trained technicians to take a look to make sure it doesn‘t happen again.
Be prepared for those heating emergencies by having Family Danz’ number somewhere close at hand when an emergency strikes. You will be ready for whatever the Albany, N.Y. area winter throws at you, and don’t forget — just like Family Danz, spring is not far away!
Family Danz Heating & Cooling is a full-service heating and air conditioning contractor, offering sales and service all through the Capital District of New York State. If you would like more information on any of our services, call us at 518-427-8685.