Four things are safely yours to check: thermostat settings and batteries, power and the breaker, system pressure on the gauge, and whether radiators need bleeding. Anything involving gas, the burner, or the pressure relief valve belongs to a technician.

What You Can Check

  1. Thermostat. Correct mode, setpoint above room temperature, fresh batteries. Dying batteries mimic a dead boiler more often than you would think.
  2. Power and breaker. Confirm the boiler’s switch is on and the breaker has not tripped. Reset once. If it trips again, stop — that is an electrical fault.
  3. System pressure. Most residential systems run around 12 to 15 psi cold. Low pressure prevents circulation. If you top it up and it drops again within days, there is a leak worth finding.
  4. Radiators cold at the top. Trapped air. Bleeding them with a radiator key is a reasonable homeowner task. Cold at the bottom is different — that is sludge, and it needs a flush.
  5. Gas supply. Confirm other gas appliances are working; if none are, the issue is upstream of the boiler.

What to Leave Alone

Do not open the burner compartment, adjust gas pressure, touch the pressure relief valve, or bypass any safety control. If the boiler is locking out on a safety, that control is doing its job — repeatedly resetting it is how a small fault becomes a dangerous one. DIY work on gas appliances can also void warranties and create insurance complications.

Stop and Call Immediately If

You smell gas — leave the building, call the gas utility from outside, then call us. A carbon monoxide alarm sounds — everyone out, call 911. You see water leaking from the boiler body, soot or scorching around it, a yellow rather than blue flame, or hear loud banging and kettling. We answer emergency heating calls 24/7.

The Local Cause Behind Many Problems

Kettling — that rumbling or whistling sound — is usually limescale on the heat exchanger, and Albuquerque’s hard water is why local boilers develop it faster than boilers elsewhere. Annual service with flushing, plus a water softener, addresses the root cause.

Contact B. Carlson in Albuquerque and Santa Fe.