Top-rated independent heating and cooling across north Georgia and the southern Appalachians
Heating Season Prep, Step by Step
The first cold morning is when you find out what the summer did to your heat. You turn the thermostat up, wait, and either get warm air or a burning smell and nothing. A few checks before that morning save you a cold house and a rushed call. Here is what we look at, and what you can safely look at yourself.
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STM Heating & Air service team · field-reviewed before publishing
How fall and winter stress heating systems across the region
Across the states we cover, heating equipment sits idle from roughly April through October. Bearings dry out, dust settles on burners and heat exchangers, and mice find their way into blower compartments and duct boots in red clay crawlspaces. Up on the ridges, propane and dual-fuel systems have a second problem: the changeover control has not switched in months, so a stuck relay or a bad outdoor sensor goes unnoticed until the heat pump runs in weather it cannot handle. In the valleys, straight heat pumps lean on electric strips they have not used since last winter. Idle time, not runtime, causes most of what we see in the first cold week.
Which failures spike, and when
The first hard cold snap brings ignition problems. Furnaces that ran fine in March fail to light because a flame sensor is coated or an igniter is at the end of its life. That same week we get heat pumps running auxiliary heat constantly because a defrost board or reversing valve gave up quietly. Mid-winter, after weeks of long cycles, we see blower motors, capacitors and clogged filters choking airflow, which shows up as a furnace that heats then shuts off on its limit switch. Late season brings thermostat and wiring faults from rodent damage. If you want heating repair on your schedule instead of ours, call before the first freeze.
The safe checks you can do yourself
Start at the thermostat. Fresh batteries, set to heat, and a setpoint a few degrees above room temperature. If nothing happens, check your breaker panel for a tripped breaker and reset it once. Change the filter. A filter left in since spring is the single most common reason a system heats poorly or short cycles. Walk the house and confirm supply and return vents are open and not blocked by furniture or rugs. If you have a heat pump, clear leaves, pine straw and grass clippings away from the outdoor unit so it can breathe and drain during defrost. Stop there. Gas, refrigerant and high-voltage work is ours.
What we check that you should not
On a pre-season visit we pull the burner compartment and look at the flame pattern, clean the flame sensor, and check the igniter and gas valve operation. We test the heat exchanger for cracks, check draft and venting, and read amp draw on the blower motor and capacitor. On heat pumps we verify defrost operation, check refrigerant performance against outdoor temperature, and confirm auxiliary heat staging. On dual-fuel we test the changeover point so the propane side actually takes over when it should. We also look at the crawlspace: sagging flex duct, disconnected boots and rodent damage cost you more heat than most people expect.
Gas smell or a carbon monoxide alarm
If you smell gas or a carbon monoxide alarm sounds, get everyone out of the house first. Do not flip switches, do not light anything. Once you are outside, call 911 or your gas utility from a safe distance. After they have cleared the property, call us and we will inspect the heating system, the venting and the heat exchanger before anything runs again. Working carbon monoxide alarms on every level matter most with propane and gas furnaces, and they need testing before the season starts. A furnace that is sooting, showing a yellow lazy flame or leaving a sharp smell in the house needs to be shut off and looked at.
Getting ahead of the first cold morning
The best time for a pre-season check is a mild week when nobody needs heat. Turn the system on for fifteen or twenty minutes on a cool evening in early fall and listen. Warm air within a few minutes, no burning smell past the first couple of minutes, no grinding or squealing, no rooms left cold. If any of that is off, call for heating repair while the weather is forgiving. We work on furnaces, heat pumps, propane and dual-fuel systems for homeowners across Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, and fall is when we can get to you fastest.
Heating Season Prep, Step by Step — fast answers
Why does my furnace smell like burning the first time it runs?
Dust settled on the heat exchanger burns off, and that usually clears within ten or fifteen minutes. If the smell is sharp, smoky or lingers longer than that, shut the system off and call us before running it again.
My heat pump is blowing air that feels cool. Is it broken?
Heat pump air runs cooler than furnace air, often in the low nineties, so it can feel lukewarm at a vent. If the house is not reaching setpoint or auxiliary heat runs constantly, that is worth a service call.
How often should heating equipment be checked before winter?
Once a year, before the first cold snap. Gas and propane furnaces need burner, venting and heat exchanger checks annually for safety. Heat pumps need defrost and auxiliary heat verified, since problems there hide until the coldest week.
How it works
- Step 1
Tell us the symptom
Call or fill in the quote form and describe what you hear, smell or feel. Warm air, short cycling, a breaker that keeps tripping. That gives us a head start on the likely cause.
- Step 2
We diagnose on site
A technician checks the thermostat, airflow, electrical connections, refrigerant performance and the outdoor unit. We work the crawlspace and the attic too, because ductwork and drainage cause more trouble than people expect.
- Step 3
You decide, then we fix it
We explain what failed, what it takes to repair it, and what we would watch next season. No work starts until you say go. Most repairs finish the same visit when parts are on the truck.
- A real person answers
- Open 7 days
- Written quote before work starts
Why homeowners call us
- Mixed heating is normal to usHeat pumps, propane furnaces and dual-fuel setups all behave differently in cold weather. We know how a heat pump should sound in the thirties and when the backup heat is doing too much of the work.
- We go under the houseRed clay crawlspaces hide crushed ducts, sweating lines and standing water. Comfort problems often start down there, not at the unit, so we look before we start replacing parts you may not need.
- Plain explanationsYou get told what broke and why, in words that make sense. If a repair is a short-term patch on an aging system, we say that out loud so you can plan instead of guessing.
- One crew, six statesWe serve homeowners across Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Same approach in every one: show up, diagnose properly, repair what needs repairing, leave the space clean.
- All major brands, gas & electricOne independent crew for Carrier, Trane, Lennox, Goodman, Rheem and more.
- Straight answersNot worth fixing? We say that out loud, and often it saves you the visit fee.
About this guide
Checked everything on the list and it still acts up?
Describe what you found and we'll take it from there. Booking takes about a minute.
- A real person answers
- Open 7 days
- Written quotes
- All major brands
- Gas & electric
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