Heating or Cooling Emergency in Calgary? Start Here
Four short guides for the minutes before a technician arrives, written to be read on a phone in a cold basement. Each one says what to switch off, what you can safely check yourself, who to call first — and in one case that is not us. A gas smell is a call to ATCO Gas at 1-800-511-3447, from outside the house, before anyone else; a carbon monoxide alarm is a call to 911. Everything else ends the same way: call (825) 395-7447 and you are connected live to a technician from our network.
- No Heat in Calgary? Four Checks, Then One CallCheck four things in this order: the thermostat is on heat and set above the room temperature; the furnace switch (it looks like a light switch, near the furnace or at the top of the basement stairs) is on; the breaker has not tripped; and the filter is not choked.
- Smell Gas Near Your Furnace in Calgary? Get Out, Then Call ATCO GasGet everyone out of the house now — do not switch anything on or off, do not use a phone indoors, do not start a car in an attached garage.
- Air Conditioner Leaking Water in Calgary? Switch It Off, Then Read ThisSwitch the cooling off at the thermostat straight away and keep the water away from anything electrical.
- Furnace Starting and Stopping Every Few Minutes? The Calgary Version of Short CyclingA furnace that starts, runs for two to five minutes and shuts down — then does it again — is short cycling.
Three things every Calgary household should know before the furnace fails
Where the furnace switch is. It looks like an ordinary light switch, on the wall by the furnace or at the top of the basement stairs, and it gets flipped off by mistake more often than anyone admits. Where the outdoor vents are. A high-efficiency furnace breathes through two white PVC pipes on an outside wall; at −30 °C they can ice shut, and a drift off the roof can bury them. When the CO alarm was last tested. In a house sealed against the cold, the alarm is the only warning of a cracked heat exchanger you will get.
Then call
Once the house is safe, one call. Our assistant confirms what has happened and your postal code and puts you through, still on the line, to a technician from our network who is available now. In a cold snap that may be at the technician's after-hours rate; the guides say when waiting for morning costs less and when it does not.