Emergency heating repair in Birmingham, AL
The house is sliding toward 55 degrees on a night in the low 20s, or the CO alarm just went off. Call any hour: a person answers, tells you what to do first and sends a technician who checks safety before restarting anything.
A heating emergency is no heat during a hard freeze, a gas smell, a carbon monoxide alarm or a furnace that smells like burning. If you smell gas, leave the house and call Spire or 911 first. If a CO alarm sounds, get everyone outside and call 911. For no-heat calls, Zeltman Heating & Air answers 24/7 and checks safety before any restart.
Heating problems that call for help tonight
A gas smell anywhere in the house
Leave first and call Spire or 911 from outside. Don't touch light switches or the thermostat until the home has been cleared.
A CO alarm going off
Get everyone outside and call 911. Once responders clear the home, we check the furnace, flue and heat exchanger before it runs again.
No heat in a hard freeze
With outdoor temperatures in the 20s or below, a dead furnace or heat pump puts pipes and vulnerable family members at risk.
A strong burning smell
Anything beyond the brief dusty odor of the first cold morning can mean an overheating motor or wiring. Shut the system off at its switch.
Heat strips tripping the breaker
On heat pumps and electric furnaces, a breaker that trips again after one reset points to a shorted element or a failed sequencer.
A furnace that locks out repeatedly
If the furnace tries, fails and locks itself out over and over, a safety switch is doing its job and needs a technician to find out why.
What to do first when the heat fails on a freezing night
Safety comes before warmth. If you smell rotten eggs or gas, don't flip switches or try to relight anything. Get everyone out, then call Spire or 911 from outside. If the carbon monoxide alarm sounds, leave the house, call 911 and wait for the fire department before going back in. We repair the furnace once the home is cleared.
For a plain no-heat call, the clock is the real issue. Birmingham cold snaps can drop into the 20s, and sometimes the teens. An older, drafty house loses its warmth quickly once the furnace stops. Older homes with pipes in crawlspaces or exterior walls are the first to see frozen pipes when the heat stays off overnight.
While you wait, open cabinet doors under sinks on outside walls and let faucets drip slowly. Close off unused rooms and gather everyone in one space. Space heaters help, but keep them three feet from bedding and curtains, plug them straight into the wall and never heat the house with a gas oven or grill.
Infants, older adults and anyone with a health condition lose body heat faster, so tell us if they're in the home. We use that to set priority. For a no-heat call on a mild night when the house is holding near 60, a morning visit usually costs less, and we'll say so.
How an emergency heating call works
Safety questions first
When you call, we ask about gas smells, CO alarms and who is in the home, and tell you when to leave and call Spire or 911.
Interim steps while you wait
We walk you through what to switch off, how to protect pipes and how to use space heaters safely.
Cost before dispatch
You hear the after-hours trip and diagnostic charge on the phone, before a technician starts driving.
Make safe, then repair
The technician checks gas, CO and venting, then finds the fault. Igniters, flame sensors and switches are often replaced on that visit.
Heat back or a safe stopgap
When a part must be ordered, we leave the system shut down safely, suggest temporary heat and schedule the repair as early as possible.
Safety checks before we restart your heat
- Gas leak check at the furnace valve, union and flex connector
- Carbon monoxide readings in the flue and in the living space
- Visual heat exchanger inspection for cracks, rust-through and soot
- Flue pipe, chimney connection and vent terminal for blockage or separation
- Rollout and limit switches, and the reason either one opened
- Heat strip elements, sequencers and wiring on electric and heat pump systems
- Ignition sequence from inducer start to flame proving
- Temperature rise and steady operation through several full heating cycles
What emergency heating repair costs in Birmingham
$225 to $940
This covers the night, weekend or holiday trip and diagnostic charge plus common fixes such as an igniter, flame sensor, pressure switch, limit switch or heat strip relay. Inducer motors, control boards and heat exchanger problems are priced separately. You get both numbers before any work starts.
Ask for a price (659) 777-4129What moves the number
- Time and date
- An overnight call during a holiday cold snap carries a higher charge than a Tuesday daytime visit.
- Gas or electric heat
- A furnace igniter and a heat pump defrost board are very different parts with very different prices.
- Parts on hand
- Common igniters and switches are usually on the truck. Model-specific boards may need a second trip.
- Safety findings
- A cracked heat exchanger or a damaged flue changes the job from a repair to a shutdown and a replacement discussion.
- Access in the cold
- An attic furnace or a crawlspace unit on an icy night takes extra time to reach safely.
Cold snaps and older homes around Birmingham
Hard freezes don't come often here, which is why they catch systems off guard. A heat pump in a newer Helena or Moody subdivision may run fine all fall, then fall behind on a night in the teens if its backup heat strips have failed. Older homes in Ensley, Norwood and Bush Hills tend to be draftier, so they cool off faster once the heat stops.
From our base on 15th Avenue North, Woodlawn, East Lake and Irondale are close by, and I-20, I-59 and I-65 carry us across the rest of the metro when the roads are clear. On icy nights we tell you plainly how travel conditions affect our time window. Gas emergencies always go to Spire or 911 first, then to us for the repair.
Areas we cover most often
We repair and replace equipment from these manufacturers, plus most other makes.
Questions about emergency heating repair in Birmingham
Leave the house right away without flipping switches or trying to relight anything, then call Spire or 911 from outside. Once the gas company or fire department clears the home, call us to repair the furnace, gas valve or connector that caused it.
Call 911 first and get everyone outside. After responders clear the house, call us. We test the furnace, flue and heat exchanger and keep the system shut down until the source of the carbon monoxide is found and fixed.
Open cabinet doors under sinks on outside walls, let faucets drip slowly and keep interior doors open so any heat moves around. If the house keeps dropping, know where your main water shutoff is in case a pipe does split.
Electric space heaters are fine with care. Keep them three feet from anything that can burn, plug them directly into a wall outlet and turn them off when you sleep or leave the room. Never use a gas oven, grill or generator indoors for heat.
Expect a higher trip and diagnostic charge for nights, weekends and holidays than for a weekday visit. We share that charge on the phone, and if the house is holding warm enough, waiting for morning is an option. The repair itself is priced before work begins.
Yes. In the teens or low 20s, a heat pump leans on its backup heat strips. If those strips, their breaker or the defrost controls fail, the house can cool off quickly. We repair the heat pump side and the backup heat on the same visit.
Related services and reading
- Furnace RepairNo heat, clicking with no flame, a tripped limit or a blower that runs nonstop.
- Heat Pump RepairStuck in defrost, iced over, cold air in heat mode or a reversing valve that will not switch.
- Electric Furnace and Heat Strip RepairAir handlers with heat strips that blow cool air, trip breakers or smell hot.
- Heat Exchanger and CO Safety CheckA camera and combustion check for cracks, rollout and carbon monoxide risk.
- Heat pump or gas furnace for a Birmingham winter?Heating guide
- Thermostat settings for Alabama summers and wintersComfort guide
Need emergency heating repair in Birmingham?
We answer 24/7. Tell us what the system is doing and we will tell you what happens next.