Heating · Emergency Service · South Shore MA
Heating Repair & No Heat Service
No heat is the call we take more than any other, and we staff for it. Boilers, furnaces, heat pumps, gas, oil and propane—diagnosed properly the first time, with a straight answer about whether it is worth repairing.
Smell gas, or the carbon monoxide alarm is sounding? Leave the house first, then call the gas company from outside. Do not flip switches. Once you are safe, call us at (781) 974-5239 and we will get someone out.
Try These Three Things First
A meaningful share of our no-heat calls turn out to be something you could have fixed in two minutes. We would rather tell you that up front than charge you for a service call to flip a switch.
1. Check the thermostat. Set to HEAT, temperature above room temp, and—this catches people every year—fresh batteries. A dying thermostat battery looks exactly like a dead boiler.
2. Check the emergency switch and the breaker. There is usually a switch that looks like a light switch at the top of the basement stairs or on the wall near the unit, often with a red plate. Someone turns it off by accident constantly. Also check the breaker panel.
3. If you burn oil, check the tank. Gauges stick. If you are anywhere near a quarter tank, call for a delivery before you call for a repair. Running a system dry pulls sludge into the lines and turns a $0 problem into a real one.
One thing we would ask you not to do: repeatedly pressing a reset button on an oil burner. Each press dumps more unburned fuel into the chamber. Two attempts maximum, then call.
What Usually Fails, By System
Gas boilers
Failed circulator, stuck zone valve, bad thermocouple or igniter, low water pressure, air locked in a zone, or a dead aquastat. Most are same-day repairs with parts on the truck.
Oil boilers & furnaces
Clogged nozzle or filter, fouled electrodes, failed cad cell, seized pump, or water in the tank. Nearly always traceable to a missed annual cleaning.
Gas furnaces
Cracked igniter, dirty flame sensor, failed inducer or pressure switch, blocked condensate on high-efficiency units, or simply a filter so clogged the furnace overheats and shuts itself down.
Heat pumps
Refrigerant loss, failed reversing valve, defrost board or sensor problems, or an outdoor unit iced over because the defrost cycle is not running. Blowing cool air in January is usually defrost, not a dead compressor.
Some rooms cold, others fine
On hot water heat, usually air trapped in a zone or a failed zone valve—both straightforward. On forced air, a duct problem, a closed damper, or a system that was undersized for the space from day one.
When We Tell You to Replace Instead
We are not looking to sell you equipment you do not need. A fifteen-year-old cast iron boiler with a bad circulator is worth fixing—those boilers run forever. The same boiler with a cracked section is not.
A cracked heat exchanger in a furnace is different. That is a carbon monoxide risk, and we red-tag it rather than patch it. If a contractor offers to seal one, get a second opinion immediately.
The four things we weigh: age against expected service life, repair cost against replacement cost, whether parts are still manufactured, and what the system costs you to run every month. You will see what we found and hear the reasoning before you decide anything. If replacement is the answer, we will also tell you what Mass Save rebates and 0% financing apply.
Common Questions
How fast can you get here when it is freezing?
No-heat calls are dispatched as emergencies and prioritized ahead of scheduled work. Our office is staffed around the clock, so you reach a person. During a regional cold snap everyone in the trade is slammed—we will give you an honest window rather than a comfortable one.
Should I keep space heaters running while I wait?
One or two electric space heaters on separate circuits, away from anything flammable, and never left running overnight unattended. Never use a stove, oven, grill or generator indoors for heat. Also open cabinet doors under sinks on exterior walls and let a faucet drip—frozen pipes turn a no-heat call into a flood.
Do you service oil as well as gas?
Yes—gas, oil, propane and electric, boilers and furnaces both. Plenty of South Shore homes still run oil, and we work on them regularly. If you are thinking about getting off oil, see oil-to-gas conversion.
Can I avoid this next winter?
Mostly, yes. The large majority of the no-heat calls we run trace back to a system that had not been cleaned and checked in years. An annual heating tune-up in the fall costs a fraction of an emergency call in January, and it protects your manufacturer warranty.
No heat right now?
Call us. Our office answers around the clock during heating season.