With the arrival of the colder weather comes the invetible worrying about whether your heating system furnace will actually start up and run this year reliably, or whether you’ll end up being stuck in the cold (literally!) in the middle of the night one snowy January evening. If you have any doubts about your heating system lasting through the winter, you should definitely call in a professional and get a seasonal check up. A little maintenance goes a long way to keeping heating systems going these days.

If you do find yourself stuck out in the cold then there are a couple things you can do before calling the repairman. If it isn’t an emergency then you might want to try some of these heating system troubleshooting steps first.

1. Check your heating system thermostat: There are hundreds of different types of manual and electronic thermostats and you’d be amazed at how complex they can make the simlpe act of turning on the heat. Be sure to read your manual and make sure you’re actually setting things the right way. It could be a simple case of accidentally setting the temperature too low or having a timer set incorrectly.

2. Check inline switches and filters: No matter what kind of heating system you have, there are probably at least one or two switches that can turn things on or off in an emergency or at the first sign of trouble. With forced hot air systems there is also an air filter. Check to make sure all the switches in your heating system are set properly and definitely check to see if that air filter is clean or not. Some heating systems will actually shut down or not work properly if the air filter gets excessively dirty.

3. Check your heating system fuses: There are many different types of heating systems, from forced hot air to baseboard to ambient heat and there are also many types of heatin fuels from electric to gas to oil. Almost all of these systems generally rely on some sort of electrical charge somewhere along the way, whether it’s to turn on a fan or a switch or to provide the actual heat. Make sure you haven’t accidentally blown a fuse. If you find that you did trip a fuse then you may want to think about getting an electrician in at some point to look your system over.

4. Read the heater’s manual: When all else fails you can actually do what you should have done first - read the manual for the both your thermostat and your heating system. Now, I know that not all systems have a formal manual, but it’s a good idea to have some sort of written record of how to operate things in case you ever need to instruct someone else.

Be safe when it comes to dealing with heating systems. Most air conditioner systems run about the same way with some minor differences, but there are dozens of different configurations of heating systems out there. If you have any doubt about your heating system working through the winter and you have elderly or extremely young people in your home then you may want to think about investing in a small back up room heater. That way even if you do have a heating system breakdown you’ll be able to gather in one room and at least stay safe from the bitter cold outside.

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