Smithtown, Hauppauge, Commack, Kings Park and St James. Four fuels, three kinds of distribution, and a lot of houses where the heating and the cooling were fitted decades apart by different people.
Oil, gas, propane, electric or heat pump. We find the fault, say what it costs to put right, and say plainly when the money is better spent elsewhere.
Two things are worth thirty seconds before you call: whether the thermostat is calling, and whether the emergency switch at the top of the basement stairs has been knocked off. Between them they account for a genuinely surprising share of winter call-outs, and both are free to check.
Where we find a compromised heat exchanger on a combustion appliance, it gets shut off rather than repaired. That is not a negotiation and it never will be.
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What an annual service should include
Oil
Nozzle, oil filter, strainer and electrodes — consumables, replaced not inspected
Combustion tested with instruments, not by eye
Heat exchanger, flue and chimney base inspected
Tank, line and fittings looked at and reported on
Gas and propane
Burners cleaned, flame pattern checked
Heat exchanger inspected properly
Flue integrity and termination checked
Limits, pressure switch and flame sensor tested rather than observed
Boilers
Circulators, zone valves and the expansion vessel
System pressure and water quality
Air in the system — bled where it belongs, investigated where it keeps coming back
Controls and the schedule as actually programmed
Heat pumps
Reversing valve confirmed in both modes
Defrost cycle watched through, not assumed
Back-up heat staging checked — when it comes on and why
Thermostat configuration read and confirmed against the equipment
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Cooling in a house that was never ducted for it
A great many houses here heat by boiler and baseboard, which means there is no ductwork to put cooling into. That leaves ductless heads, a small-duct system, or retrofitting conventional ducts — which in an older house is mostly carpentry rather than heating work.
Where ducts do exist, the question is whether they can carry the air a cooling system needs. Static pressure answers that in one measurement, and it is worth taking before anybody quotes equipment.
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Before we quote a replacement
A load calculation for your houseRoom by room, from orientation, glazing, shading, insulation and use. Not from the badge on the old appliance.
Distribution assessedDucts measured, or the boiler circuit and emitters looked at. This is what decides whether a new appliance will actually feel better.
Electrical supply checkedParticularly where a heat pump is being considered. It is the thing that turns a straightforward change into a larger job.
Permit filedWith the town or village office covering your address, and named in the quotation.
Commissioned with numbersCombustion figures, airflow, temperature rise or split, and pressures — written down and left with you.
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Three things you can do yourself
Know where your emergency switch isAnd tell the rest of the household. It is the red one at the top of the stairs, and it gets knocked.
Change the filter on an interval you will keepWhatever you will actually stick to beats a better interval you will forget. Write the size on the cabinet.
Watch your oil gauge, or your tank levelRunning out is not a fault, but it usually means a restart and a bleed, and it always happens on the coldest night.
