An after-hours no-heat call in New Jersey runs $150 to $500 just for the dispatch, plus $150 to $300 an hour, so a common repair like an igniter or a flame sensor lands at $275 to $600 at midnight. Call (201) 676-3099 or book a free estimate.
An after-hours no-heat call in New Jersey runs $150 to $500 just for the dispatch, plus $150 to $300 an hour, so a common repair like an igniter or a flame sensor lands at $275 to $600 at midnight. Our emergency minimum is $695 and it covers up to two hours, day or night. Before you spend any of that, run the eight checks below. Three of them are free and they fix a real share of the no-heat calls we get every January.
Do this right now
If the house is already cold and it is below freezing out, open the cabinet doors under sinks on outside walls and let the faucet farthest from the meter drip. A burst pipe costs far more than the furnace repair.
Look at the thermostat screen, the breaker for the furnace or boiler, and the service switch on the unit or at the top of the basement stairs. On oil, check the tank gauge; on gas, check that PSE&G, New Jersey Natural Gas or Elizabethtown Gas has not shut the meter off.
A real person answers 24/7. If anyone in the house is elderly, very young or medically fragile, call first and troubleshoot while we roll. In Bergen, Passaic, Hudson, Essex and Morris we are often there within the hour.
The 8-point no-heat checklist
Set to HEAT, not AUTO or OFF, and set the target at least five degrees above room temperature. Change the batteries even if the screen looks fine — a weak battery in a smart thermostat causes intermittent no-heat calls all winter. A blank screen on a wired thermostat often means a blown low-voltage fuse on the furnace board.
Every furnace and boiler in New Jersey has a switch that looks like a light switch, usually red, on the unit or at the top of the basement stairs. Cleaning crews, kids and contractors flip it. Check it first.
Find the furnace or boiler breaker in the panel. Push it fully OFF, then back ON. If it trips again immediately, stop and call. Do not keep resetting a breaker that will not hold.
A filter packed solid restricts airflow, the heat exchanger overheats, and the high-limit switch shuts the furnace down. A $15 filter fixes more no-heat calls than any part we carry. Change it and give the furnace fifteen minutes.
Older units have a standing pilot you can relight by the printed instructions. Newer ones have a hot surface igniter that glows orange for about thirty seconds before the gas valve opens. Watch a cycle. If it glows and nothing happens, the gas valve or pressure switch is the problem. If it never glows, the igniter is cracked — $150 to $300 in normal hours.
High-efficiency furnaces and condensing boilers make water, and a full trap, a clogged line or a dead condensate pump trips a safety switch. Look for standing water under the unit or a full pump reservoir. Clear it and it often restarts on its own.
The most common New Jersey no-heat cause on a high-efficiency furnace, and it happens on the coldest night. If the PVC condensate line runs through an unheated garage, crawl space or rim joist, it freezes solid and backs water into the unit. Warm it with a towel soaked in hot water — never a torch — then get the line rerouted or insulated.
Steam systems in older North Jersey houses have a low-water cutoff that stops the burner when the water drops too low. Look at the sight glass on the side. If the water is below the middle, it will not fire. Many need the blowdown valve flushed monthly. Do not just keep adding water without finding out where it went.
Furnace blowing cold air on heat — what does that mean?
If the blower runs but the air is cool, the furnace is trying and failing to light, or it lit and shut down on a safety. The usual suspects, in order: a dirty flame sensor that cannot prove the flame, a cracked igniter, a blocked flue or intake, a failed pressure switch, or the frozen condensate line above.
A dirty flame sensor is the cheapest of those. The furnace lights for five to ten seconds, quits, tries again, then locks out. If yours has been doing that dance for a week, that is what it is. Check outside too: a high-efficiency furnace has two PVC pipes at the wall, and snow, ice or a bird nest in either one shuts it down.
What does an emergency no-heat call cost in NJ?
Ours is one number that includes the trip, the diagnosis and up to two hours of a licensed tech. Parts beyond truck stock are quoted in writing and approved by you before they go in — at 2am, same as at 2pm. That is the Price-Lock Guarantee, and it is printed in the contract.
| Item | 2026 New Jersey range |
|---|---|
| Standard HVAC service call / diagnostic | $75 – $200 |
| Standard HVAC labor | $75 – $150 per hour |
| After-hours dispatch / diagnostic | $150 – $500 |
| After-hours labor | $150 – $300 per hour |
| Flame sensor cleaned or replaced | $495 – $700 |
| Hot surface igniter replaced | $495 – $750 |
| Control board replaced | $600 – $1.1K |
| Inducer (draft) motor replaced | $700 – $1.4K |
| Blower motor replaced | $700 – $2.3K |
| Boiler repair — gas valve, expansion tank, circulator, zone valve | $495 – $1.2K |
| Our emergency minimum, nights, weekends and holidays, up to 2 hours | $695 |
How do I keep pipes from freezing while I wait?
- Keep the house above 55 degrees any way you can — a safe electric space heater in the room with the most plumbing, never near bedding or curtains, never on an extension cord
- Never use a stove, an oven, a grill or a generator indoors for heat — that is a carbon monoxide death every winter in this state
Does my landlord have to provide heat in New Jersey?
New Jersey's housing rules require landlords to supply heat during the heating season, generally October 1 through May 1, at roughly 68 degrees during the day and 65 overnight. A landlord who does not is in violation, and the enforcement route is your municipal code enforcement or property maintenance office — every town has one.
Document it: photograph a thermometer with the date, keep your written requests, and call the town. If you are the landlord, that is a same-day call, and we give you the written scope and invoice for your file.
Where these numbers come from
Repair prices and after-hours rates come from 2026 price pages published by New Jersey HVAC companies, national cost guides including HomeGuide, Angi and Fixr, and our own 2026 quotes across North Jersey, where labor runs 15 to 20 percent above the state average. Heating-season requirements come from New Jersey's state housing regulations as enforced by municipal code offices. Our $695 emergency minimum is our own price.
Questions people ask next
My furnace turns on and off every few minutes. What is wrong?
That is short cycling. The usual causes are a clogged filter, a blocked return, a dirty flame sensor or an oversized furnace. It wears the equipment out fast and burns more gas, so it is worth a diagnosis even though the house is warm.
Is it safe to keep resetting the furnace?
Once, yes. Twice, stop. Modern furnaces lock out after three failed ignition attempts on purpose — that lockout protects you from a gas buildup. If it will not stay running after one reset, it needs a tech.
How fast can you get here in a cold snap?
Same-day dispatch statewide, and often within the hour in Bergen, Passaic, Hudson, Essex and Morris. In a genuine deep freeze everybody calls at once, so we triage — no heat with kids or seniors in the house goes to the front of the line. A real person answers and gives you an honest arrival window.
Should I repair a 20-year-old furnace or replace it?
If it is over 18 years old, the heat exchanger is suspect and any repair over about $1,500 is money spent on a unit near the end. An 80 percent furnace installed runs $3,800 to $5,500 in New Jersey, a 96 percent unit $5,500 to $8,500. We give you all three numbers and let you choose.
Do you work on steam boilers and old radiators?
Yes. North Jersey is full of 1920s and 1930s houses on steam, and they are their own trade — near-boiler piping, air vents, low-water cutoffs, pitch on the returns. Plenty of shops will not touch them.
Need no-heat service near you?
If you searched “no-heat service near me” anywhere in New Jersey, that's us. First Call Contracting is based in Paramus and sends its own licensed crew to all 21 counties — written price before work starts, no deposit, a real person on the phone 24/7.
No heat is a today problem, not a Monday problem.
A real person answers 24/7, a licensed crew rolls the same day, and you approve the price before anything happens. Our emergency no-heat service page tells you exactly how we run the call.
Or call Alex direct: (201) 676-3099