Which heating system do you have?
Most houses we work in heat with a forced-air furnace, and most of the rest run a boiler. The pipes and ducts coming off the equipment usually tell you which one you have, and that tells you a lot about what tends to go wrong in January.
| System | How to recognize it | Common winter trouble |
|---|---|---|
| 80% gas furnace | A metal flue pipe into a chimney or metal vent, often shared with the water heater | Worn igniter, coated flame sensor, noisy inducer motor |
| 96–98% condensing furnace | White PVC pipes out a side wall or the roof, plus a drain line or a small condensate pump | Frost or snow on the pipes, a plugged or frozen condensate line |
| Propane furnace | The same furnace fed from a tank outside, set up with propane orifices and gas valve settings | Lockout when the tank runs low or empty |
| Hot-water boiler | Radiators, baseboard or floor tubing, with a circulator pump and a pressure gauge at the boiler | Air in the lines, a waterlogged expansion tank, a dripping relief valve |
| Steam boiler | Radiators, often with a small air vent on the side, and a glass tube on the boiler showing the water level | Banging pipes, clogged vents, low water tripping the cutoff |
| Heat pump with a gas furnace (dual fuel) | An outdoor unit that keeps running in winter, with a furnace inside for backup | Snow drifted around the unit, ice the defrost cycle doesn't clear |
If a furnace has quit or keeps shutting itself off, start with furnace repair. If it's near the end of its life, furnace replacement covers sizing, venting and the efficiency choice. Radiators, baseboard and heated floors have their own page on boilers and radiant heat. We also work on electric furnaces and gas garage heaters, and we service every major brand, from Carrier, Trane and Lennox furnaces to Weil-McLain boilers. The full list is on our brands page.
How does a no-heat call work?
- You call or send the form. The number is 612-429-3465. We're open 7 days a week, 7am–9pm, and a house with no heat goes ahead of tune-ups and quotes.
- We start at the thermostat. The technician confirms the call for heat is reaching the equipment, then checks power, the filter and the vent pipes outside.
- We follow the startup sequence. A furnace lights in a set order: inducer motor, pressure switch, igniter, gas valve, flame sensor, blower. Where that order stops points to the failed part, and the control board's blink code usually backs it up. A boiler gets the same step-by-step check of the burner, circulators, zone valves, pressure and water level.
- You get a written price first. Nothing gets replaced until you've seen a flat-rate price for the repair. The $79 trip charge is waived when you approve it.
- We fix it and run it. The system runs a full cycle while we watch the flame and check for carbon monoxide around the equipment. Completed repairs carry a written 1-year parts-and-labor warranty.
If we find something unsafe, such as a cracked heat exchanger or flue gas spilling into the basement, we shut the equipment off, tag it and show you what we found. Minnesota law requires a working carbon monoxide alarm within 10 feet of every sleeping room, and a no-heat visit is a good time to test yours. Before you call, our no-heat checklist covers the few things that are safe to check yourself.
Should you repair or replace your furnace?
Many no-heat calls come down to one failed part on a furnace that still has years left: an igniter, a flame sensor, a pressure switch, an inducer or blower motor. Those get repaired. Replacement comes into the conversation when one of these is true:
- The heat exchanger is cracked. It's the most expensive part in the furnace, and on an older furnace that's out of warranty, swapping in a new one rarely makes sense.
- The furnace is past 20 years and the repair is a big one. A new inducer or blower motor on a 10-year-old furnace is routine. The same repair on a 22-year-old furnace buys time, and it may be the first of several.
- Repairs are stacking up. A third major repair in a few winters usually means the rest of the furnace isn't far behind.
- The house never heated right. Rooms that never warm up, or gas bills climbing while the thermostat settings haven't changed, can point to a furnace that was sized wrong or set up poorly. Sometimes the real fix is in the ductwork.
When replacement is on the table, you get both prices in writing, side by side, and you decide. Replacement is also the time to look at a cold-climate heat pump paired with a gas furnace, called dual fuel. The heat pump carries fall and spring, its capacity drops as the weather gets colder, and the furnace takes over on the coldest nights. Our heat pump page covers how that works in Minnesota.
Heating in Minnesota houses
Long seasons, hard cold snaps
A furnace here runs from October into April and has to carry the house through strings of sub-zero nights. That's a lot of run hours on inducer and blower motors and a lot of ignition cycles on an igniter. Weak parts tend to quit on the first cold night of fall or in the middle of the first real cold snap, which is why we'd rather find them at a fall tune-up.
Old houses, old systems
Housing age decides most of what we find. In Minneapolis and Saint Paul, plenty of 1910s–1940s houses still heat with hot-water or steam boilers, and others have forced air that replaced an old gravity furnace, often with too few return ducts. The 1950s and 60s ramblers usually have an 80% furnace vented into a masonry chimney next to the water heater. Split-levels and two-stories from the 1970s through the 90s are on their second or third furnace, and most 2000s subdivisions went straight to condensing furnaces. Our local pages cover furnace repair in Minneapolis and boiler service in Saint Paul in more detail.
Snow and frost on the pipes
Condensing furnaces brought a winter problem the older ones never had. In a cold snap, frost can build on the PVC intake and exhaust outside, and drifting snow can bury them. The pressure switch senses the blockage and shuts the furnace down. Keep those pipes clear after every big snow, and aim the snowblower away from them. A condensate drain line that runs through a cold garage or crawlspace can freeze and shut the furnace down too.
Dry winter air
Heated winter air gets dry. To keep windows from running with condensation, indoor humidity is usually held around 25–35% in cold weather and lower in deep cold. A whole-home humidifier mounts on the furnace and adds moisture as the furnace runs, so you're not hauling a tabletop unit from room to room.
Gas, propane and the utilities
CenterPoint Energy supplies natural gas in Minneapolis and much of the metro, and Xcel Energy supplies both gas and electricity in Saint Paul. Minnesota Energy Resources, other gas utilities, electric co-ops such as Connexus Energy, Dakota Electric and Wright-Hennepin, and municipal utilities serve other towns, and on the Wisconsin side it's Xcel Energy, co-ops and municipal utilities. Past the gas lines, around lake homes, farmhouses and rural builds, propane is common, and a propane furnace needs its own orifices and gas valve settings.
Garage and shop heaters
A heated garage in Minnesota usually means a gas unit heater hung near the ceiling, or a radiant tube heater in a taller shop. The heater itself is simple. The trouble comes from what surrounds it: venting, a gas line too small for one more appliance on a long run to a detached garage, too little clearance to whatever is stored nearby, and an uninsulated door that lets heat out as fast as the heater makes it. National cost guides such as HomeGuide put a typical installed natural gas garage heater at $500–$2,000+, and a new gas line, if there isn't one, at $350–$2,000. We quote garage heaters in writing after we've seen the space, and our garage heater guide compares infrared and forced-air styles.
How much does heating work cost?
Our published prices are the same in every town we serve, with nothing added for distance:
| Work | Our price |
|---|---|
| Service call | $79 trip charge, waived when you approve the repair |
| Furnace tune-up | From $129, or $219 together with the AC |
| 80% AFUE furnace, installed | Roughly $4,500–$6,000 |
| 96–98% AFUE furnace, installed | Roughly $6,500–$9,500 |
| Boiler or garage heater | Written quote after we see the equipment and venting |
Every repair and replacement gets a written, flat-rate price before work starts. Repairs carry a 1-year parts-and-labor warranty, installs a 2-year labor warranty on top of the manufacturer's parts warranty, and financing is available on installs. Maintenance plans are available on request.
For the details, our furnace repair cost guide and furnace replacement cost guide go line by line, the pricing page lists every published price, and the Minneapolis HVAC cost page covers furnace, AC, heat pump and repair prices for the city.
We help with utility rebate paperwork where the program allows it. CenterPoint Energy's heating rebates let you use the heating dealer of your choice, while some other utility rebates require a registered contractor, so ask the utility before you buy. The federal 25C tax credit ended for equipment placed in service after December 31, 2025, so it won't lower the price of a new furnace.
What's included with heating?
- Diagnosis of gas, propane and electric furnaces, boilers and garage heaters
- $79 trip charge, waived when you approve the repair
- Written, flat-rate price before any work begins
- Written 1-year parts-and-labor warranty on completed repairs
- Manual J load calculation on every replacement quote
- 2-year labor warranty on installs, on top of the manufacturer's parts warranty
- Help with utility rebate paperwork where the program allows it
Heating questions
How soon can you come when the heat is out?
We answer 7 days a week, 7am–9pm, and no-heat calls get priority over tune-ups and quotes. Call 612-429-3465 and tell us how cold the house is and whether a baby, an older adult or anyone with health problems is home. While you wait, keep interior doors open and curtains closed, and never use a gas oven or grill to heat the house.
Should I get a furnace or a boiler?
Stay with what the house was built around. If it has ductwork, a furnace is the simpler replacement, and the same ducts can carry central air. If it has radiators or floor tubing in good shape, a new boiler keeps the quiet, even heat and avoids cutting ducts into plaster walls. Switching systems makes the most sense during a major remodel, when the walls are already open.
Can a heat pump replace my furnace in Minnesota?
Partly, and in most Minnesota homes it works best alongside one. Cold-climate heat pumps keep making heat well below zero, but their capacity drops as it gets colder, so most installs here keep a backup: a gas furnace, which is called dual fuel, or electric resistance heat. The heat pump carries fall and spring, and the backup takes the coldest nights. Both get sized with a Manual J load calculation.
Do you work on propane furnaces?
Yes. Plenty of homes past the end of the gas lines in the rural towns around the metro and in Western Wisconsin heat with propane. A propane furnace runs different gas valve settings and burner orifices than a natural gas furnace, so the setup has to match the fuel. We repair propane furnaces the same way we repair natural gas units, and we check the fuel setup on every replacement.
Do you service garage heaters?
Yes. We repair and install gas-fired garage and shop heaters for attached garages, detached garages and pole buildings. Most of the trouble with these heaters comes from venting, an undersized gas line to a detached building, or too little clearance to stored items. We also look at whether the garage is insulated well enough for the heater to keep up in January.
Is a burning smell normal when the furnace first comes on?
A dusty, burning smell during the first hours of the heating season is normal: dust that settled on the heat exchanger over the summer is burning off. A smell that lasts past a day, or a hot electrical or melting-plastic smell, needs a technician. A rotten-egg smell is the odor added to natural gas and propane, so leave the house and call your gas utility or propane supplier from outside.
Has the federal tax credit for new furnaces ended?
Yes. The federal 25C tax credit for furnaces, boilers and heat pumps ended for equipment placed in service after December 31, 2025. Utility rebates are separate programs that change from year to year, so check Xcel Energy, CenterPoint Energy or your local utility for what is offered now. Some utility rebates require a registered contractor, so ask the utility about that before you buy.
Do you work on heating systems outside the Twin Cities?
Yes. We cover Minneapolis and Saint Paul plus about 50 miles around: the metro, the Crow River and Carver County towns to the west, the I-94 and Highway 10 towns out to Monticello and Becker, river towns like Northfield and Red Wing, and Western Wisconsin around Hudson, River Falls and Prescott. Pricing is the same in every one of them, with no mileage surcharge.
Sources
- HomeGuide cost guides (2026 editions) homeguide.com