Central Heating Services
Shemtov Systems keeps Montgomery County homes warm with complete central heating services. We install, service, and repair gas and propane furnaces, boilers, and heat pumps, matching the right system to your home and budget.
From routine maintenance that prevents winter breakdowns to fast repairs when the heat goes out, our NATE-certified technicians do the job right and to code. Call (240) 355-3333 to schedule service or a free replacement estimate.
Central heating service covers the one appliance that heats the whole house, a gas furnace, a hot water boiler, or a heat pump, plus the ducts or piping carrying heat to each room. What the visit involves depends on which you own, and correct operation is proven with instruments. For heating service in Silver Spring and Montgomery County, call Shemtov Systems at 240-355-3333.
Key takeaways
- Furnaces, boilers, and heat pumps all heat a whole house, each serviced differently.
- Correct operation is proven by instrument: temperature rise, static pressure, draft, and combustion readings.
- Room to room swings usually trace to the ducts or hydronic loop, not the heat source.
- Replacing a furnace can strand the water heater on an oversized chimney, a venting problem to solve too.
What counts as central heating?
Three system types cover almost every home in Montgomery County. A forced air furnace burns gas or propane and pushes heated air through ducts. A boiler heats water and sends it to radiators, baseboard, or radiant tubing, common in older Silver Spring and Wheaton colonials. A heat pump moves heat rather than making it, and reverses in summer. See furnace repair and installation, boiler service, and heat pump installation.
What does an annual heating service include?
On a furnace or boiler a technician cleans the burners, compares manifold gas pressure with the rating plate, watches flame quality, confirms the flue is drafting rather than spilling, and inspects the heat exchanger. Condensing models add the condensate trap and hoses. A boiler adds the circulator, expansion tank charge, low water cutoff, and relief valve. Ducted systems add the filter and blower wheel.
How can I tell whether my heating system is performing correctly?
By measurement. A gas furnace carries a temperature rise range on its rating plate, commonly 30 to 60 degrees; read supply and return air, and a difference above that band means restricted airflow. Furnace supply air runs 120 to 150 degrees; a heat pump delivers roughly 90 to 105, near or below body temperature, so a lukewarm register is normal. Air handlers are typically rated near 0.5 inches water column of external static pressure, and above that the equipment fights its ducts.
What fails most often in the middle of winter?
The classic gas furnace failure is a fouled flame sensor: the burner lights, runs seconds, drops out, and retries until the board locks out. Cracked hot surface ignitors come next. On condensing furnaces a plugged condensate trap or an iced vent terminal trips the pressure switch. Boilers fail at circulators, waterlogged expansion tanks, and trapped air. A heat pump that frosts and clears is fine; one that stays iced has a defrost fault.
Why is one room always colder than the rest?
Uneven heat is usually delivery, not production. Ducts run through unconditioned attics and crawlspaces leak and shed heat before the air arrives, additions on long branch runs get starved, and undersized returns choke the system. An unbalanced hydronic loop feeds the nearest emitters first. All of it is measurable: duct pressure testing quantifies the leakage, duct design and installation resizes the runs, and duct zoning splits two floors.
What safety checks belong in a heating service?
Anything burning fuel earns a combustion and venting check: the heat exchanger inspected for cracks, the appliance confirmed to draft instead of spilling flue gases indoors, and enough combustion air in a basement since air sealed. Watch for the orphaned water heater: swap a furnace for a sealed combustion model vented in PVC and the water heater sits alone on a chimney sized for two, and may backdraft unless the flue is relined.
Frequently asked questions
Does a heat pump need different service than a furnace?
Yes. With no burner, flue, or heat exchanger to inspect, the time goes to charge, the defrost cycle, the reversing valve, and how the backup heat stages in. Book it twice a year, since the same box cools in summer.
How long should a central heating system last?
In this market a gas furnace typically reaches 15 to 20 years and an air source heat pump 10 to 15, and cast iron boilers often pass 30. Weigh a large repair against remaining life, not the price of the part.
Why does my heating run constantly on the coldest days?
Long run times at design conditions are normal, and steady operation is the efficient way to run, especially on a heat pump with variable capacity. Constant running on a mild day is the real signal, usually low airflow or a control fault.
What can I do between professional visits?
Change the filter on schedule, keep supply and return grilles clear of rugs and furniture, clear snow and leaves from an outdoor unit, and bleed radiators cold at the top. Leave gas and refrigerant to a technician.
Talk to Shemtov Systems
To book a heating tune-up, a diagnostic on a system that is running badly, or a repair, call Shemtov Systems at 240-355-3333. Our NATE-certified technicians work throughout Silver Spring, Wheaton, Rockville, Bethesda, Olney, and the rest of Montgomery County.
Homeowner guides
Straight answers to the questions we hear most from Montgomery County homeowners.