08/20/2026
Friendly reminder, Mid-Michigan: go turn your heat on today.
We know. It's August. That's the whole point.
Furnaces almost never quit in the summer. They quit on the first 30-degree night in October — when every HVAC company around here is booked three deep and you're paying after-hours rates to get somebody out at 11 p.m.
Fifteen minutes this week tells you everything:
1. Change the filter. If you can't remember the last time you did, it's time.
2. Set the thermostat to HEAT and bump it about 5 degrees above the room.
3. Let it run 15 minutes. It should fire up within a minute or two and blow warm — not lukewarm.
4. Use your nose and ears. A little dusty burn-off smell for the first few minutes is normal. Grinding, screeching, booming, or a burning-plastic smell is not — shut it off.
5. Walk the house. Is every register blowing? Is one room way behind the rest?
6. While you're at it, test your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. CO detectors expire — most are done at 7-10 years, and the date is printed on the back.
⚠️ If you ever smell rotten eggs or sulfur, that's natural gas. Don't flip a switch or use a phone inside — get everyone out first, then call 911 and your gas utility from outside.
If something sounds off today, you just gave yourself six weeks to fix it on your schedule, at regular rates, with a contractor you actually chose.
And if you're not sure whether what you're hearing is normal — that's what Riley is for. Riley is our AI home advisor, answers 24/7, and it's free to call: (989) 814-4056. Riley will walk through it with you, and if it needs a real set of hands, we'll connect you with a licensed, insured Michigan contractor.
Save this for the weekend. And if you run yours today, tell us how it went in the comments — we'd love to hear that everybody's furnace fired right up.
— Jake & Joe Zazo
Guided Path Home Services · Freeland, MI
