Boiler Not Heating? First Checks Before You Call

Check 1: the thermostat

Set the thermostat to heat and raise the set point above the current room temperature. If the display is blank, replace the batteries and set it again.

A cold room often starts at the thermostat, not inside the boiler cabinet. A dark screen usually means the batteries are dead, and a thermostat with no power cannot signal the boiler. If heat mode, the set point, and fresh batteries change nothing, leave the cover on. Wiring faults belong with heating system repair. Move on to the power switch.

Check 2: the power switch and breaker

Confirm the boiler service switch is on and that the breaker has not tripped. Reset a tripped breaker once. If it trips again, stop.

The service switch is usually on the wall beside the boiler. It often looks like a light switch, sometimes on a red plate. At the panel, a tripped breaker sits in the middle or fully off. Do not open the boiler's electrical compartment. If the switch and breaker are on and there is still no heat, read the pressure gauge next.

Check 3: the pressure gauge

Find the pressure gauge on the boiler and compare the needle with the normal range in your boiler's manual. Check your boiler's manual for its normal range. Do not use a number from another unit.

On many hot-water boilers the gauge is a round dial on the front of the jacket. A steam boiler may use a different gauge. Low is a needle below the range in that model's manual. A technician finds the cause, so don't keep topping it up without one. If you cannot tell which dial it is, stop, and do not open nearby valves.

Signs you need a technician

Call a technician when there is still no heat after these checks, or when the boiler locks out, leaks, or makes a noise it did not make before.

A code that returns after one reset from the manual, water at the fittings, or a new bang, whistle, or rumble means stop. Do not take the jacket off. Boiler repair covers the boiler. Heating system repair covers cold radiators, zone valves, and thermostats when the problem is in the piping and controls.

What NOT to DIY

Leave gas valves, burners, and sealed parts alone. Those are not homeowner checks.

Do not turn a gas cock to see if the boiler will start. Do not remove a burner door, clean a burner, or look for the flame with the cover off. Do not bypass a rollout switch, a low-water cutoff, or any other safety control. If a panel was sealed, leave it sealed. Past the three checks, the work belongs with a technician.

Renters and apartment buildings: who handles heat

If you rent, tell your landlord or superintendent before anyone works on the building boiler. In New York City, providing heat to tenants is the owner's legal duty.

In an apartment building, one boiler often heats every unit. Tell the landlord or the super that you have no heat. Do not adjust the building boiler, the gas valve, or the system pressure yourself.

NYC Housing Preservation and Development's heat and hot water page states that building owners are legally required to provide heat and hot water to their tenants. Heat must be provided from October 1 through May 31. When the outside temperature is below 55 degrees between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m., the inside temperature is required to be at least 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., the inside temperature is required to be at least 62 degrees Fahrenheit regardless of the outside temperature. HPD says tenants without heat should contact the landlord first, and the same page explains how to file a complaint with 311 if the landlord does not restore it.

Call Alpha Plumbing & Heating Services

If the checks do not bring the heat back, call Alpha Plumbing & Heating Services at (646) 518-0821 for a technician visit.

The shop is in Williamsburg, at the address below, and also covers Greenpoint as part of its Brooklyn work. From that shop, service runs to Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx, Staten Island, Westchester County and Nassau County. When you call, say what the three checks showed, including any code still on the display.

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