Top five things you can do before calling an HVAC tech to repair your furnace:

A broken furnace prior to an expensive repair.

1. Look for flash codes

2. change your thermostat batteries

3. change your furnace air filter

4. Turn the furnace off and on again.

5. Call the professionals

Calling an HVAC service company to fix your broken furnace is expensive (we know), just like taking your car into the mechanic. And, to make matters worse, during peak season, HVAC and mechanical contractors are often so busy that same day service to fix a furnace is impossible.

In order to make sure that you keep your furnace running and avoid having to call your a repair person, when your furnace is not delivering heat, try these things first:

1. Look for flash codes through the furnace door sight glass. Some are like morse code with long and fast flashes, and some are letters and numbers on seven segment LED displays (like an old digital alarm clock).

There are more furnace error code types than we could show here, but look for your furnace manual and check to see if it has the code list inside. Even if you can't decipher the furnace diagnostic error code, take a video of it with your phone to show to the HVAC service tech when they arrive. This information may prove to be valuable to them in the diagnostic process.

2. Change your thermostat batteries. It is an embarrassing moment to realize that you just spent a couple of hundred dollars calling out an HVAC tech, only to have them change your batteries and then the furnace starts. And once you change the batteries, make sure the furnace is in the correct mode (Heat, or EM Heat) and that the temperature is set above the room temperature.

3. Change the air filter, but take a photo of the old one before throwing the old air filter out, your HVAC service tech may want to see it if they think that poor airflow is the culprit. If the old filter is really dirty, this can cause some furnaces to turn themselves off because not enough air is crossing the heat exchanger, and causes an unsafe condition.

4. Cycle (turn off and then on again) the Furnace switch (often unlabeled up high) -see video of all the different spots for furnace switches.

If you can't find any switch at all, turn the furnace breaker off and on again. Only do this once you have looked for and recorded any diagnostic codes from the furnace board. Cycling the power will erase any recent errors.

5. Get your electrical multi-meter out and start poking around... Just kidding. It is time to call your HVAC service or Mechanical Contractor. Here is a link to the Crux Mechanical service request page. It is time to get the professional HVAC service technicians out to look at it.

Fill in the form, submit it, and then call us to let us know that you have no heat. We deal with "no-heat" calls first, so let us know that you made the service request by calling us at 250-492-2429. We will prioritize your call. Tell us you read this entry for a free high-five.