The recent intense cold that tore through New Jersey probably has made a lot of homeowners evaluate their heating systems. What if those heating systems had broken during an intense chill?
It’s definitely good to think about potential emergency situations like this, since people are more likely to arrange for regular heating maintenance before the winter starts and pay attention to signs it’s time either to repair the heater or have a new heater installed.
But nothing can stop all heating system disasters. We have tips on what you can do in case your home’s furnace stops working abruptly.
Some day in the future, all furnaces will come equipped with precision self-diagnosing computer systems that will immediately diagnose operational issues and alert their owners to the exact problem and then send a request to a professional to service it. We’re not quite there yet—but your furnace does have ways to inform you when something isn’t right, such as higher heating bills, poorer comfort, or strange sounds.
It’s October, and maybe you’re having spooky thoughts about parts of your house during the evenings. If you have a gas furnace in the basement, you might be a bit startled at the sounds it makes as it comes on if you’re wandering in the depths of the house at night. But is that gas furnace an actual danger? Not just a noise in the night, but something that could turn into a combustion hazard or allow for the leak of toxic gases?
April may bring showers, but it’s also a time when the annual climate starts the ascent toward staying warm through the summer. Good news in most ways—but unfortunately one way it isn’t good is that it makes it more likely for homeowners to ignore a malfunctioning gas furnace. When people know they soon won’t need the furnace running for a long stretch, they might shrug off what looks like small malfunctions. Those can wait until the fall, can’t they?
As winter winds down, homeowners often evaluate the performance of their home heating systems. Is it time to retire that old furnace that can’t seem to keep up? If it is, what type of furnace should replace it?
Welcome to March! The month when winter officially ends. But the weather never obeys any “official” dates, and we can still expect chilly weather to come our way. You’re home 
