Fall heating-season checkup
Annual · typically September–October
Why it matters
Your heating system sat idle all summer, and the first cold snap is when every marginal part announces itself.
With ~60–120 freeze days coming in your county, this system is about to work every day for months. September beats December for finding out something's marginal.
What skipping it costs
$300–$6,500
Heating failures cluster on the first real cold night — the exact week every HVAC company is booked solid and after-hours rates apply. A $150 September visit finds the weak igniter for $40; the same part fails in a January cold snap as a $300 emergency call, and that's the cheap version of the story.
Two ways to get it done
Do it yourself
You'll need: Fresh filter, Fresh thermostat batteries if yours takes them.
Before any tech shows up, knock out the homeowner layer:
- Fresh filter (see the filter task — five minutes).
- Test-fire the heat now, on a mild day. Set the thermostat 5° above room temp and let it run 15 minutes. Odd smells for the first 10 minutes are normal dust burn-off; smells that persist, or a system that short-cycles, are why you're doing this in September.
- Thermostat batteries if it takes them — a dead thermostat on a holiday weekend is a genuinely stupid way to have no heat.
- Check that supply registers are open and unblocked by furniture in the rooms you actually use.
Hire it out
$90–$190National fair range — local labor moves this number.
A real heating tune-up runs $90–$190 in your area and should take 45 minutes or more.
Know the classic play: heat exchangers do crack, but "cracked heat exchanger, we should talk replacement today" without a scope photo or a CO measurement is the industry's most reliable fear-sell. Get the evidence, then get a second opinion. An honest diagnosis survives one easily.
Ask the tech
- What did the combustion analysis read? (For gas — you want numbers, not 'burned clean.')
- Did you inspect the heat exchanger with a camera or just eyeball the burner compartment?
- What's the temperature split across the system, and is it in spec?
Red flags you're being upsold
- A cracked-heat-exchanger diagnosis with no photo, no camera scope, and no CO reading — this is the single most common scare tactic in the trade.
- A same-day replacement quote with 'today only' pricing. Furnaces don't have flash sales.
- 'Your system is too old for parts' on anything under 15 years.
Second opinion time: Any cracked-heat-exchanger diagnosis, full stop. It's sometimes true and always worth a second set of eyes before you spend $5,000+.
The call
Hire the checkup annually if you burn gas or oil — the CO angle isn't DIY territory. Heat pump owners can go every other year while the system's under 10.