Seasonal walk-through
The fall furnace walk-through
Test the heat before the first cold night, not on it. A checklist for the furnace, the boiler and the heat pump, with the install-year arithmetic for each.
InspectedOctober 16, 2026figures as pulled
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Before the season turns
- Pick the date. Put the test on the calendar for a mild afternoon a few weeks before you expect to need heat. The point is to find a problem while technicians still have openings.
- Change or check the filter. Read the size off the frame of the old one. If it is grey and matted, the system has been breathing through it all summer.
- Clear the space. Move boxes, paint cans and anything that burns away from the furnace or boiler, and open every supply register and return in the house.
- Run the heat. Raise the thermostat a few degrees above the room. Confirm the system starts, the burner or heat strip comes on, and warm air or warm radiators follow.
- Test the alarms. Press the test button on every smoke alarm and carbon monoxide alarm. A fuel-burning appliance and a sleeping household need both.
- Look at the vent. Follow the flue or vent pipe from the furnace or boiler as far as you can see it. It should be connected at every joint and supported along its run.
- Read the plate. Write down the install or manufacture year and do the arithmetic in the guide. That year, not a strange noise, is what tells you whether to plan.
- Book the service. An annual service visit before the season is the routine the published ranges assume. Book it now, while the calendar is open.
The systems on this list
- Gas Furnace: 15 to 20 years; biggest lever, filter discipline and annual service.
- Boiler: 15 to 25 years; biggest lever, water quality and annual service.
- Heat Pump: 10 to 16 years; biggest lever, how many months a year it runs.
Each guide carries the install-year table: the year the typical range opens, the year it closes, and where 2026 falls. That is the planning date. A unit inside its range has not failed and is not about to by any rule on this site; it is simply a unit worth budgeting for.
How long is your furnace season?
A degree day is NOAA's plain measure of how much heating or cooling a climate asks for. Take a day's average temperature and compare it with 65°F. Each degree the day sits below 65 is one heating degree day; each degree above is one cooling degree day. Add up a year of them and you have a number for how hard a furnace or an air conditioner is worked in that place, on a normal year.
| # | Metro | Station | HDD | CDD | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI | MINNEAPOLIS/ST PAUL AP, MN US | 7,399 | 830 | NOAA |
| 2 | Madison, WI | MADISON DANE RGNL AP, WI US | 7,138 | 627 | NOAA |
| 3 | Worcester, MA | WORCESTER RGNL AP, MA US | 6,622 | 502 | NOAA |
| 4 | Syracuse, NY | SYRACUSE HANCOCK INTL AP, NY US | 6,588 | 619 | NOAA |
| 5 | Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY | BUFFALO, NY US | 6,466 | 608 | NOAA |
| 6 | Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA | SPOKANE INTL AP, WA US | 6,463 | 515 | NOAA |
| 7 | Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI | MILWAUKEE MITCHELL AP, WI US | 6,450 | 780 | NOAA |
| 8 | Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI | GRAND RAPIDS, MI US | 6,408 | 732 | NOAA |
| 9 | Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY | ALBANY AP, NY US | 6,357 | 721 | NOAA |
| 10 | Rochester, NY | ROCHESTER GTR INTL AP, NY US | 6,273 | 677 | NOAA |
| 11 | Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA | DES MOINES INTL AP, IA US | 6,178 | 1070 | NOAA |
| 12 | Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI | DETROIT METRO AP, MI US | 6,067 | 847 | NOAA |
The Midwest, on its own
| # | Metro | Station | HDD | CDD | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI | MINNEAPOLIS/ST PAUL AP, MN US | 7,399 | 830 | NOAA |
| 2 | Madison, WI | MADISON DANE RGNL AP, WI US | 7,138 | 627 | NOAA |
| 3 | Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI | MILWAUKEE MITCHELL AP, WI US | 6,450 | 780 | NOAA |
| 4 | Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI | GRAND RAPIDS, MI US | 6,408 | 732 | NOAA |
| 5 | Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA | DES MOINES INTL AP, IA US | 6,178 | 1070 | NOAA |
| 6 | Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI | DETROIT METRO AP, MI US | 6,067 | 847 | NOAA |
| 7 | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN | CHICAGO OHARE INTL AP, IL US | 5,974 | 1003 | NOAA |
| 8 | Omaha, NE-IA | OMAHA EPPLEY AIRFIELD, NE US | 5,833 | 1294 | NOAA |
| 9 | Akron, OH | AKRON CANTON RGNL AP, OH US | 5,700 | 870 | NOAA |
| 10 | Toledo, OH | TOLEDO EXPRESS AP, OH US | 5,641 | 1019 | NOAA |
99 metros in the file. Ties alphabetical by metro name.
Degree days describe a place on a normal year, not your house or your thermostat. A higher count means more hours of runtime for the same equipment, which is one reason the same unit can sit at different points in its range in different cities.
The cooling side has its own list: the spring air conditioning walk-through.