Most people wouldn’t just ignore the Check Engine light on their car. It may be annoying, but it tells you to get to your mechanic quick before you end up on the side of the road. If only the same were true of a furnace.

When it comes to HVAC systems, there’s no warning light staring you in the face all the time. And, sometimes it’s not obvious that the heater is having trouble keeping up with freezing temperatures. After all, don’t the winters just seem to be getting colder anyway?

However, once that system goes for good, it’s unmistakable. By the time one Somers Point resident contacted Comfort Now, his old gas furnace had completely broken down. Fortunately, he made the right call.

Problem: A thirty-year-old York condenser 80-percent gas furnace experienced a full system failure after having problems keeping up with freezing temperatures.

Solution: Installed a Carrier Condenser and Carrier Comfort Series 85-percent gas furnace.

Never one to leave a customer out in the cold, Comfort Now worked fast to fix the problem. Technicians had a new heater up and running in less than a day after they got the call. Now, the new system in this Somers Point single-family home is even better than what they had before.

That’s not just empty boasting. The numbers back it up. The old system had an 80-percent gas furnace. That means 20 percent of the fuel the furnace is lost in exhaust rather than used to actually heat the home. The new Carrier Comfort furnace, however, boasts an 85-percent efficiency rate.

Five percent may not sound like a lot, but it translates into slightly lower energy bills, assuming the old system was peak condition — which, obviously, it wasn’t. But the good thing about gas versus electric heat is that it heats a room faster and cheaper.  Even that “small” extra five percent can go a long way over an entire season, especially when the old system wasn’t up to snuff.

Of course, the homeowner wasn’t nearly as worried about saving money as he was just getting the heat going again in his house. Still, Comfort Now had him covered on both fronts. This Somers Point home went less than 24 hours without heat. And, while the temperature in the house is rising again, the homeowner is secure knowing his energy bills won’t do the same.