1. Start at the thermostat (seriously)
Nobody wants to hear it, but it’s the number one finding on no-heat calls across the industry. Make sure it’s set to HEAT, not OFF or COOL — someone in the house may have switched it during that last warm week. Set the temperature a good five degrees above the room. If the display is blank or dim, change the batteries. Smart thermostat? Check it didn’t lose power or Wi-Fi and revert to a schedule you didn’t expect.
2. The switch that looks like a light switch
Somewhere near your boiler — often at the top of the basement stairs — there’s an emergency shutoff switch, usually with a red plate. It looks exactly like a regular light switch, and that’s the problem: people flip it off without knowing what it is. Kids do it. Guests do it. A hand full of laundry does it. Make sure it’s ON.
3. The breaker panel
Find the breaker labeled for the boiler or burner and check whether it’s tripped — it may sit in a middle position rather than fully OFF. Flip it fully off, then back on, once. If it trips again, stop there: a breaker that keeps tripping is telling you something electrical is wrong, and that’s ours to chase, not yours.
4. Oil heat? Check the tank
More common than anyone likes to admit, especially early in the season before delivery schedules kick in. If your gauge reads low or the float doesn’t move, you may simply be out of oil — and after a fill-up, some systems need the lines bled before they’ll fire, which is a quick visit for us. If the tank has oil but the burner won’t run, read on.
5. The reset button — press it ONCE
Oil burners have a reset button on the burner control (usually red). Here’s the rule my industry wishes everyone knew: press it one time, not five. Every press sprays more oil into the combustion chamber. If the burner then catches with several failed attempts’ worth of oil pooled in there, you can get what we call a puff-back — a small explosion that coats your basement (and sometimes the whole house) in oily soot. One press. If it doesn’t hold, leave it off and call. Gas boilers may have their own reset or lockout indicator — same rule: one attempt.
6. Boiler runs but the house stays cold?
Different problem. If you hear the boiler firing but the radiators or baseboards never warm up, you’re likely looking at a dead circulator pump, air trapped in the lines, a stuck zone valve — or on steam systems, a low water level. Those are service calls, but quick ones for a tech who lives in these systems. Tell us ‘it fires but no heat gets upstairs’ and we’ll know exactly where to start.
