Furnace, Boiler & AC Tune-Ups

Most heating and cooling breakdowns start as a part wearing out quietly. These are the ones a tune-up is designed to catch:

• Furnaces: a cracked or weak hot surface ignitor, a dirty flame sensor, an inducer motor with worn bearings, a plugged condensate trap on high-efficiency models, and venting problems.
• Oil burners: a worn nozzle, a clogged filter, electrodes out of adjustment and soot build-up, which all waste fuel before they cause a lockout.
• Boilers: a waterlogged expansion tank, a sticking zone valve or circulator, a low-water cutoff that needs flushing, and a steam pressure control set too high.
• Air conditioners and heat pumps: a capacitor drifting out of spec, pitted contactors, a clogged condensate drain, dirty coils and an incorrect refrigerant charge.

What gets checked depends on the equipment, but every visit ends with the readings written down, not just ticked boxes.

• Furnace tune-up: burners and flame sensor cleaned, ignitor, inducer, pressure switch and limit switches tested, gas pressure and temperature rise checked, heat exchanger inspected, venting and carbon monoxide checked, filter and blower checked.
• Boiler tune-up: system pressure and expansion tank, relief valve, circulators and zone valves, low-water cutoff, burner and combustion on oil (nozzle and filter replaced), venting and controls.
• AC and heat pump tune-up: coils cleaned or rinsed, condensate drain cleared and float switch tested, capacitor tested under load, contactor inspected, refrigerant charge checked by superheat and subcooling, static pressure and temperature split measured, and the defrost cycle tested on heat pumps.

Our article on what we actually do in an AC tune-up goes through the cooling visit item by item. If we find a part that is failing, we tell you what it is, what it costs and whether it can wait. Repairs are never done without your approval.

• Single visit or plan. A maintenance plan covers the scheduled visits and adds a repair discount and priority scheduling; current plans are on the maintenance page.
• Equipment. A boiler or oil burner visit includes parts, such as a nozzle and filter, that a gas furnace visit does not.
• Number of systems. Homes with two systems, or a furnace plus a separate air conditioner, need more time.
• Condition. A heavily fouled coil or a badly blocked drain takes longer to clean.

A tune-up is also the best time to get an honest read on whether your system is worth keeping. We look at age, repair history, the readings and parts availability, and we will tell you if the money is better spent on replacement. Warning signs include a furnace past 15 to 20 years that needed repairs in each of the last two seasons, an air conditioner that needs refrigerant added every year, and a cracked heat exchanger, which ends a furnace's life. If replacement is the right call, planning it in spring or fall beats doing it in an emergency; see emergency vs. planned replacement. Financing is available through Rheem KwikComfort, with credit provided by Synchrony Bank, subject to credit approval. See financing for how it works.

Coils need more than a rinse? See AC coil cleaning. Mini-splits: repair and maintenance.

Related services: furnace repair, boiler repair, water heaters, oil-to-gas conversion and 24/7 emergency service. Guides: why September beats November for a furnace tune-up and when maintenance saves money, and when it does not.