Mid‑Winter Heating System Woes—There’s Help!

There’s a good reason Shakespeare wrote a play titled A Midsummer Night’s Dream and not A Midwinter Night’s Dream. Midwinter can be a stressful time for handling a house, and one of the biggest concerns—a Midwinter’s Nightmare, if you like—is losing heating altogether. There are also the smaller concerns of losing heating power so the house is still receiving heat, but there are cold spots and people can’t warm up enough, no matter how the thermostat is set.

We can remove the stress of the midwinter heating woes: we offer 24-hour service for heating in Des Moines, IA and throughout the Des Moines and Grimes Metro Areas. Please don’t attempt to go DIY on a heater problem, especially a gas-powered heater. You’ll stay safe and have your heating restored quickly when you call on our HVAC professionals.

This is common trouble during winter. The heater is still working, but some rooms feel chillier than others. Some rooms may even be too hot. Uneven heating has several possible sources. It can be a sign the heater is struggling to produce the same amount of heat as it used to, and if the heater is more than 15 or 20 years old, that may mean it’s time for a replacement.

But uneven heating can also point toward issues with the ductwork and ventilation system. Air leaks in the ducts can cause rooms to receive less heated air. Improper air balancing and zone control trouble leads to rooms becoming too hot and others too cold. If you have a boiler system, some radiators or baseboard heaters in rooms may have failed. Let an HVAC professional discover what’s at the root of the problem and remedy it.

The biggest problem you may face in winter is what appears to be a fully broken heater. If the heating system won’t turn on, it isn’t necessarily because the system has experienced a full breakdown. Sometimes the problem is a bit simpler: the climate controls are broken and aren’t communicating with the heater. Fixing or replacing the thermostat may be all that’s necessary. For a boiler, the gas burners may not be igniting (which might be as basic as a failed electronic ignition system).

But for an older heating system, the problem may be a more catastrophic mechanical failure. When you call on an HVAC expert to look over the system, you’ll learn about the options available to you. Can repairs affordably restore the heater and keep it running for a few more years? Is a replacement system a better option? Professionals are skilled at making these choices, but they’ll lay out the options for you with an explanation of the best long-term solution. They’ll also take account of safety. For example, a technician cannot allow a furnace with a cracked heat exchanger to continue to run—either the exchanger or the furnace must be replaced.

You can trust to our heating technicians to give you honest answers and the finest service.