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HVAC Repair

Furnace Not Heating? 6 Checks Before You Call for Service

No heat on the coldest night of the year — and every HVAC company is booked and charging emergency rates. Half of no-heat calls end with a technician doing something you could have done: flipping a switch, swapping a filter, or wiping a $10 sensor. Run these checks first.

Time20–45 min
DifficultyEasy–Moderate
Typical savings$150–$350
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What you'll need

⚠️ Safety firstIf you ever smell gas: leave the house, don't flip switches, and call your gas utility from outside. All steps below are with the furnace power switch OFF unless noted.

Step-by-step fix

1

Check the furnace power switch and breaker

There's a light-switch-looking toggle on or near the furnace — it gets bumped off in storage areas constantly. Check the breaker panel too.

2

Set the thermostat properly and replace its batteries

HEAT mode, 5° above room temp. Dead thermostat batteries are an embarrassing percentage of emergency calls.

3

Replace the filter

A suffocated furnace overheats and shuts itself down via the limit switch, short-cycling: fires up, runs 3 minutes, quits. New filter, problem gone.

4

Check the condensate drain (high-efficiency models)

Newer furnaces shut down when the condensate trap or line clogs. If there's a small pump or trap full of water, clear/flush it.

5

Watch the ignition sequence and read the blink code

Turn power on, trigger heat, and watch through the sight glass. The control board's LED blinks an error code — count it and check the legend on the panel door. Scan the code and furnace label with SpotFix AI for a plain-English translation and likely part.

6

Clean the flame sensor

If the furnace ignites then dies after a few seconds, that's the classic dirty flame sensor. Power off, remove the single screw holding the thin metal rod near the burners, polish gently with fine sandpaper, reinstall. This $0 fix resolves an enormous share of no-heat calls.

When to call a pro instead

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Common questions

Why does my furnace start, run 3 minutes, and shut off?
Short-cycling is usually overheating from a clogged filter or a dirty flame sensor dropping the flame signal. Both are on this list — both free.
Is a blinking light on the furnace bad?
The LED always blinks a status code. Steady or slow-blink is often normal; count the flash pattern and match it to the door label to know if it's an actual fault.
How often should a furnace be serviced?
A pro tune-up every 1–2 years, filter changes every 1–3 months. The tune-up is cheaper than one emergency call.

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