Questions about heat, carbon monoxide and the visit

Get everyone out, pets too, and call 911 from outside. Don't go back in to reset the alarm or open windows. Once the fire department says the house is clear, call us and we will find out why it happened before anyone relights anything.

The thermostat setting and batteries, the switch and the breaker, the filter, and the boiler's pressure gauge. The no-heat page lists them in order, with the alarm first.

The visit fee is on the pricing page, or we tell you on the phone. You get a written number for the repair before any work starts, and if you say no, you owe the visit fee and nothing else.

We repair first. A part that costs little on a furnace that otherwise works is a repair. A cracked heat exchanger, or a boiler that leaks from the body, is a replacement conversation, and we write down what we found so you can get a second quote.

Steam radiators have a vent near the top on one side and one pipe; they bang when the system is off-balance. Hot-water radiators have a pipe at both bottom corners and a small bleed valve. If you're not sure, text us a photo of the boiler and the radiator.

Once a year, in the fall, before the first cold week. A boiler's burner and a furnace's flame sensor and flue are what we look at, and we measure carbon monoxide at the same time.

Our work is natural gas furnaces and boilers, which is most of the Southwest Side. If yours burns something else, call and ask before you book.

The written number says what the part and the labor are covered for, and for how long. Ask us to read it out if the paper isn't clear.

From October 15 to April 15 a technician answers the no-heat line after hours and decides with you whether it can wait for morning. After-hours visits carry a higher visit fee, and we tell you the number before we dispatch.

A repair usually doesn't need one. When a job does, such as a new flue liner or a boiler swap, we say so in the written number and the permit is on the list.

Jaqueline, Fidencio and Matilde do. Ask for them when you call. Maksim and Nasir in the field don't, so a visit with them is a call with one of us on speaker.