Utica, NY and nearby towns
No heat in your Utica home?
When the radiators are cold and the house is dropping, a few quick checks can save time. Then call, and you will be connected with a local heating company that repairs boilers.
This is a referral line. When you call, you are connected with an independent local heating company.
First, is anyone in danger?
If you smell gas, leave the house and call 911 or your gas utility from outside. If a carbon monoxide alarm is sounding, get everyone outside and call 911. The EPA notes carbon monoxide is odorless and colorless, and that poorly adjusted or maintained boilers and blocked or disconnected flues are among the sources of it in homes.[source]
Five things to check before you call
- Thermostat. Is it set to heat, above the room temperature, and does it have working batteries?
- Power. Is the boiler switch on? It often looks like a light switch at the top of the basement stairs, sometimes with a red plate. Check the breaker too.
- Fuel. Gas: are other gas appliances working? Oil: what does the tank gauge read?
- Water level. On a steam boiler, is there water in the sight glass? On a hot water boiler, does the gauge read in the normal range shown in your boiler manual?
- Error codes or a reset button. Note any code. Press an oil burner reset only once. Pressing it again and again can flood the chamber with oil.
If none of that brings the heat back, the problem is inside the boiler or its controls, and a technician needs to look at it.
Keeping the house safe while you wait
The National Weather Service advises keeping a backup plan for cold weather and checking on older neighbors and relatives.[source] Ready.gov advises never using a generator, grill or camp stove inside, and keeping carbon monoxide detectors working.[source] If the house may freeze, a heating company can tell you how to protect pipes until the repair.
Forecasts and winter storm warnings for the Utica area come from the National Weather Service Binghamton office (opens in a new tab).
Help paying for heating repairs
New York's Home Energy Assistance Program can help eligible households with heating costs, and it has emergency benefits.[source] NYSERDA's EmPower+ program offers energy upgrades for income-eligible households.[source] See our heating help guide.
How fast a Utica house cools down
NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals for the Utica Oneida County Airport station show January averaging a high of 30 degrees and a low of 14 degrees, with about 140 nights a year at or below freezing.[source] On a night like that, a house with no heat loses temperature steadily. Older homes with little wall insulation and single pane windows lose it faster. The rooms that cool first are usually the ones over unheated porches, garages or crawl spaces, and the bathrooms and kitchens on outside walls where pipes run.
Indoor temperature is your clock. Put a thermometer in the coldest room. If it is dropping toward the low 50s and the outside temperature is in the teens or lower, protecting pipes becomes urgent. If it is a mild night in October or April, you have more time to wait for a scheduled visit.
Is it the boiler, the thermostat or the power?
Many no heat calls turn out to be simple. A thermostat with dead batteries goes blank. A thermostat set to cool or off will not call for heat. A tripped breaker or a boiler service switch turned off by mistake cuts power to the burner, and the service switch often looks like a light switch at the top of the basement stairs or on the boiler itself, sometimes with a red cover plate.
If the thermostat is calling, power is on and the boiler still does nothing, look at the boiler. Newer boilers have a display with an error code. Write it down exactly. Older boilers may have a standing pilot you can see through a small window. If the pilot is out, follow the lighting instructions on the label inside the boiler cover, only if you are comfortable doing so and you smell no gas.
When the boiler runs but the house stays cold
A boiler that fires but does not heat the house points to a distribution problem. In a hot water system, the circulator pump may have failed, a zone valve may be stuck, or air may be trapped in the piping. Touch the pipe leaving the boiler and the pipe coming back. If the supply is hot and the return is cold, water is not moving.
In a steam system, the boiler may be low on water and shutting off on its low water cutoff, or the main vents may be stuck so steam cannot reach the radiators. Look at the sight glass on the side of the boiler. If you cannot see water in it, do not add water to a hot boiler yourself. Turn it off and call. See steam boiler repair for more.
Renters, landlords and two family houses
A lot of Utica housing is two family and multi family houses where the landlord supplies heat. New York's Property Maintenance Code requires owners who furnish heat to keep habitable rooms at 68 degrees or warmer from September 15 to May 31.[source] The City of Utica Codes Department (opens in a new tab) enforces the code in the city.
If you rent, tell your landlord first, and put it in writing with the date and time. If you own the building, have tenant contacts ready so the heating company can get into every unit to check radiators. One boiler failure in a two family house leaves two households cold, so give the company that detail when you call.
What not to do
Do not use a gas oven, range or outdoor grill to heat the house. Do not run a generator indoors or in an attached garage. The EPA and NFPA both warn that these are common sources of carbon monoxide poisoning in winter.[source][source] If you use electric space heaters, plug them straight into a wall outlet, keep them three feet from anything that can burn, and turn them off when you leave the room or go to sleep.
Do not keep pressing the reset button on a boiler that will not stay lit. On oil boilers in particular, each reset can push more oil into the combustion chamber. One press is enough to see if it starts. If it locks out again, call.
What to have ready when you call
- Your address, so the company can tell you if you are in their area.
- Boiler type and fuel if you know it: steam or hot water, gas or oil. A sight glass with water in it usually means steam.
- What it is doing, plus any code on the display or the reading on the pressure or temperature gauge.
Not sure about any of it? Call anyway. The company will ask the right questions.
Common questions
How fast can someone come out?
That depends on the company and the day. Ask on the call. We do not promise arrival times.
My boiler is running but radiators are cold. Why?
On hot water systems, a failed circulator or air in the lines is common. On steam, it can be a low water level or stuck radiator vents. A technician can tell for sure.
Is no heat an emergency?
In a Utica winter it can be. See emergency boiler repair for what to do.
Talk to a local boiler pro
Call now and get connected with an independent heating company that serves the Utica area.
Call about your boiler(888) 835-0429