When your furnace quits on a January night in Loveland, waiting until Monday isn’t an option. IMS Heating & Air answers the phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and sends licensed technicians from our Berthoud shop to homes across Loveland, CO and nearby communities. Call (970) 913-0868 any time, day or night, and we’ll get your heat back on.
Signs Your Heating Problem Needs Emergency Service
Some heating issues can wait for a regular appointment. These can’t:
- No heat when temperatures are near or below freezing. Indoor temperatures drop fast, and pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and garages can freeze within hours.
- A gas smell near your furnace or water heater. Leave the house first, then call 911 or your gas utility from outside.
- Your carbon monoxide alarm is sounding. Get everyone outside and call 911 before calling us.
- Burning, electrical or melting plastic odors coming from vents or the furnace cabinet.
- The furnace trips the breaker repeatedly or won’t stay running.
- Loud bangs, booms or grinding when the system starts up.
- Vulnerable people at home. Babies, older adults and anyone with health concerns shouldn’t spend a night without heat.
If you’re not sure whether your situation is an emergency, call us. We’ll help you decide over the phone.
Quick Checks Before Our Technician Arrives
If there’s no gas smell and no CO alarm, a few quick checks can sometimes restore heat or help our technician diagnose the problem faster:
- Thermostat: Confirm it’s set to Heat and a few degrees above room temperature, and replace the batteries if the screen is blank. Our thermostat troubleshooting guide walks through more steps.
- Breaker and furnace switch: Check the furnace breaker in your panel and the light-switch-style shutoff near the unit.
- Air filter: A badly clogged filter can make a furnace overheat and shut itself off. Here’s how to change your furnace filter.
- Outdoor vent pipes: High-efficiency furnaces vent through white PVC pipes on an exterior wall or the roof. After a heavy Front Range snowstorm, drifts can block them and shut the furnace down. Clear snow gently by hand.
- Furnace door panel: If the access panel isn’t fully seated, a safety switch keeps the furnace from running.
Don’t open the burner compartment or try to relight a furnace that keeps shutting off. Repeated lockouts mean a safety control is doing its job.
Emergency Repairs for Furnaces, Heat Pumps and Ductless Systems
Our technicians handle no-heat calls on the equipment Loveland homes rely on most:
- Gas furnaces: Failed igniters, flame sensors, inducer motors, pressure switches, blower motors and control boards. See our full furnace repair services.
- Heat pumps: Defrost failures, frozen outdoor coils, reversing valve problems and backup heat strips that won’t engage during a cold snap. Learn more about heat pump service.
- Ductless mini-splits: Indoor heads that stop heating or outdoor units that ice over. Explore our ductless mini-split services.
Why Front Range Winters Are Hard on Heating Systems
Loveland winters bring conditions that strain a heating system in ways other regions don’t. Temperatures can swing 40 degrees in a day when a Chinook wind gives way to an arctic front, forcing furnaces to go from idle to nonstop operation. Upslope storms dump heavy, wet snow that buries vents and outdoor heat pump units. At around 5,000 feet of elevation, gas appliances also need correct combustion settings to burn cleanly and safely.
That’s why so many emergency calls come in during the first hard freeze of the season, when a system that sat unused since spring is suddenly asked to run for hours at a time.
Repair or Replace After a Breakdown?
Most emergency calls end with a repair, not a new system. Our technician will explain what failed, show you the options and give you an upfront estimate before any work begins.
If your furnace is near the end of its life, or the repair cost is high compared to its age, we’ll tell you plainly. Colorado’s HB23-1161 sets new emissions standards for gas furnaces installed going forward, so if replacement makes more sense, we’ll help you choose a compliant low-NOx furnace or a heat pump. Flexible financing and Xcel Energy rebates can help with the cost of new equipment.
