Heating repair match · Union, Essex, Morris
One page for a furnace, boiler, or heat pump that stopped heating. What the symptom usually means and what that part costs from dated published sources, the $5,000 rule for deciding whether to fix a unit at all, the October 1 heat requirement that puts landlords on a clock, and a request that reaches an independent licensed HVACR contractor. LA Trusted Partners does not repair, install, or dispatch.
Read the symptom first
Part prices below are Trane’s national ranges (September 2024) unless another source is named, and they exclude the service call. They are here so you can recognize a fair quote, not so you can diagnose from a couch. The checks that cost nothing come first.
Start at the thermostat batteries, the furnace service switch (it looks like a light switch on or beside the unit), and the breaker. If power is fine, the control board's blink code names the fault. Common culprits: igniter ($100 to $250), pressure switch ($150 to $350), control board ($300 to $650), all Trane ranges.
Burners light and die three or four times before lockout. On a gas furnace that is the flame sensor nine times out of ten: a $80 to $240 part per Trane that a technician often cleans rather than replaces. On a boiler it can be low water pressure or a failed circulator ($300 to $1,000 per HomeAdvisor).
The fan is proving power reaches the unit. The failure is upstream: gas valve ($200 to $800), igniter, or a tripped high-limit switch from a clogged filter. On a heat pump, cold air in defrost mode is normal for a few minutes; cold air for an hour points at the reversing valve ($200 to $650 per Angi) or a refrigerant leak ($300 to $1,200).
The furnace overheats and the limit switch cuts it, then it cools and restarts. Filter first. If a new filter does not stop it, the blower motor ($300 to $900 per Trane) or a limit switch ($100 to $375) is the usual repair. An oversized furnace short cycles by design and no part fixes that.
A bang at ignition is delayed burner lighting and should be looked at soon, since repeated ignition delay stresses the heat exchanger. Screeching is a blower or inducer motor bearing (inducer $400 to $1,100 per Trane). A rattle when the blower starts is often a loose panel, which costs nothing.
Stop and treat it as a safety call. A gas flame should burn blue. Yellow or lazy flames, soot around the burner door, or a carbon monoxide alarm mean combustion is not venting cleanly, and a cracked heat exchanger ($1,000 to $3,000 per Trane) is on the list. Leave the house if the alarm sounds and call your gas utility before any contractor.
Do not flip switches, light anything, or use a phone inside. Leave, then call your gas utility’s emergency line from outside: PSE&G Gas Leaks and Emergencies 1-800-880-7734, Elizabethtown Gas 1-800-492-4009. The utility makes the line safe for free. A contractor comes after that, not before. The same order applies to a carbon monoxide alarm: out first, then call.
Before the request
Having these answers cuts the diagnostic visit short and sometimes cancels it. The full pre-call checklist, including boiler pressure and oil-burner reset rules, is on the New Jersey heat law guide. Nothing here voids a warranty; all of it is on the label or the thermostat.
If the filter change and one reset bring the heat back, you are done for today. Book a tune-up ($70 to $200 per Carrier) before the next cold snap instead of paying a night rate for the same lesson later.
Furnace, boiler, or heat pump, and gas, oil, or electric. The brand and model on the cabinet label helps.
What the thermostat reads versus what it is set to, and whether the display is blank or blinking.
Whether you already changed the filter, flipped the service switch off and on once, and checked the breaker.
The blink code on the control board (count the LED flashes through the little window on the burner door).
For a boiler: the pressure gauge reading (12 to 15 psi cold is typical for a house) and whether radiators are cold everywhere or only upstairs.
For oil heat: whether you pressed the burner reset button once. Once. Repeated resets flood the chamber.
How old the unit is and what its last repair cost. That is the input to the repair-or-replace math below.
Cost by system
Every figure is a published range from the named source on the named date. None of them is an LA Trusted Partners price, and no matched contractor is bound by any of them. The full New Jersey breakdown, including replacement costs and financing notes, lives on the furnace and boiler repair cost guide.
$75 to $1,500+ (NJ); $150 to $3,000 (national)
Typical
Common jobs $150 to $500 in New Jersey
$150 to $750, about $450 average (Fixr); $190 to $660, $425 average (HomeAdvisor)
Typical
Flat labor $150 to $300 or $75 to $130 an hour; circulator pump $300 to $1,000
$161 to $661, most about $410; $70 low to $1,500 high
Typical
Compressor $650 to $2,400; reversing valve $200 to $650; refrigerant leak $300 to $1,200
Source
$50 to $200 (Trane); $75 to $250 (Fixr); about $300 in NJ (AC Coastal)
Typical
Ask if the fee is credited to the repair. Hourly labor $75 to $150.
+50 to 100 percent (AC Coastal); double to triple the standard rate (Trane); about +$100 on heat pumps (Angi)
Typical
A space heater in one closed room for one night is often cheaper than the premium
$70 to $200 (Carrier); $153 to $693, about $323 (Thumbtack); $80 to $150 in NJ (AC Coastal)
Typical
PSE&G WorryFree and similar utility plans cover some repairs for a monthly fee; read the parts list
Repair or replace
Over $5,000, replace. Under, repair. It is the number every New Jersey searcher asks Google about after the first quote, and it is a trade rule of thumb, not a code requirement. Three worked examples:
Replacement figures to compare against: gas furnace $3,000 to $7,500 in New Jersey (AC Coastal, February 2026) or $3,500 to $8,500 (HVAC Project Cost, July 2026); heat pump $4,000 to $10,000 or more (Angi, May 2026).
Age in years times the repair quote is over $5,000. A 14-year-old furnace with a $450 quote scores 6,300. Replace, or at least get a replacement bid before approving the repair.
AC Coastal and Fixr both use 50 percent of replacement cost as the line. With a New Jersey gas furnace replacement at $3,000 to $7,500 (AC Coastal) or $3,500 to $8,500 (HVAC Project Cost, July 2026), that line sits around $1,500 to $4,000.
Furnace 15 to 20 years (Trane, AC Coastal). Boiler over 15 years (Fixr). Heat pump over 12 years (Angi). A cracked heat exchanger, a failed compressor, or a leaking boiler section at those ages is a replacement conversation.
AC Coastal's replace list includes multiple repairs in a single season. Each service call is a $50 to $300 fee before parts. Two in one winter usually means the third is coming.
October 1 to May 15
Under N.J.A.C. 5:10-14.4, buildings with three or more dwelling units must hold 68°F from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. and 65°F from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., every day from October 1 through May 15. A furnace that fails on October 3 in a Newark or Elizabeth three-family is a code violation the same day, and the Bureau of Housing Inspection (609-633-6227) responds to tenant complaints. The rule also fixes what counts as a temporary solution: unvented fuel-burning portable heaters are prohibited under N.J.A.C. 5:28-1.8, so a kerosene heater handed to a tenant is a second violation, not a fix.
For owner-occupied one- and two-family homes there is no statutory temperature, only the practical one: New Jersey searches for furnace repair run about 1,600 a month statewide in a normal month and more than double by January, so the technician you could book in a day in October is booked out in a cold snap. The full rule, the tenant remedies, and the pre-call checklist are on the heat law guide.
Coverage
Requests from these townships enter review. Listing a town is not a promise that a contractor is available in it on a given night; that is confirmed before any details are shared. Outside these counties the request is still read, and you are told if there is no coverage.
Elizabethtown Gas serves much of the county. Its gas-leak line is 1-800-492-4009; leave the building first.
Elizabeth · Union · Linden · Rahway · Roselle · Roselle Park · Hillside · Cranford · Westfield · Summit · Plainfield · Scotch Plains · Clark · Kenilworth · Springfield · Berkeley Heights · New Providence
Mostly PSE&G territory. Gas Leaks and Emergencies: 1-800-880-7734. Newark's multi-family stock is where the heat law fines land first.
Newark · Irvington · Maplewood · South Orange · West Orange · East Orange · Montclair · Bloomfield · Belleville · Nutley · Livingston · Millburn · Orange · Glen Ridge · Verona · Cedar Grove · Caldwell
PSE&G and a higher share of oil heat and older boilers in the western towns. Oil burner: press reset once, then stop.
Morristown · Morris Township · Madison · Chatham · Florham Park · Parsippany · Randolph · Denville · Dover · Boonton · Montville · Roxbury · Mount Olive · Hanover · East Hanover
Approval standard
HVACR work in New Jersey is separately licensed by the State Board of Examiners of Heating, Ventilating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractors, reachable at (973) 504-6250. Look the contractor up yourself on the state verification site before anyone opens the burner door.
The failed part, why it failed, and the price with the service fee credited or not. A heat exchanger crack should come with a photo, camera clip, or combustion reading, not a verbal warning.
If the unit is over 12 years old, ask for both numbers on the same sheet. The $5,000 and 50 percent rules only work when you can see the replacement figure.
Swapping a furnace, boiler, or heat pump is permitted work under the New Jersey Uniform Construction Code; a like-for-like part repair usually is not. The contractor pulls the permit in their name, not yours.
New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs license verification. Search by name or license number. Free.
Open license verificationThe regulation text: 68°F from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. and 65°F overnight, October 1 through May 15, in buildings of three or more units.
Read the regulationWhat a gas leak smells and sounds like, and the 1-800-880-7734 emergency line. Applies whether or not PSE&G is your supplier for the call itself.
Open PSE&G gas safetyMatch request
How the network is paid and what it does not promise is written out in the disclosure and the vetting standards.
Related paths
Cooling, ductwork, full-system replacement, and the general HVAC request when the problem is not a heating failure.
Open the HVAC hubThe long version: every part range, replacement pricing, financing notes, and the New Jersey premium explained.
Read the cost guideWhen the heat has been off long enough that the plumbing is the emergency now. Shut the main first.
Open emergency plumbingQuestions people ask
Published ranges, not a quote: AC Coastal's February 2026 New Jersey guide puts most furnace repairs between $75 and $1,500 or more, with common jobs landing at $150 to $500 and North Jersey running 15 to 20 percent above the state average. Trane's national guide (September 2024) gives $150 to $3,000 depending on the part. Emergency and after-hours calls add 50 to 100 percent per AC Coastal. A technician's written diagnosis is the only number that applies to your furnace.
The cheap ones. A clogged filter that trips the limit switch, a dirty flame sensor that shuts the burners off after a few seconds, a failed hot-surface igniter, or a stuck pressure switch account for most no-heat calls. Trane's part ranges: flame sensor $80 to $240, igniter $100 to $250, limit switch $100 to $375, pressure switch $150 to $350. Change the filter and reset the system once before you request anyone.
Trane lists a diagnostic or service fee of $50 to $200 nationally; Fixr's boiler guide lists $75 to $250 for a diagnostic visit; AC Coastal's New Jersey guide says roughly $300 covers the visit and small fixes in this market. Ask whether the fee is credited toward the repair if you approve the work on the spot. Most contractors say yes, and it belongs in writing.
A cracked heat exchanger, at $1,000 to $3,000 per Trane. It is also the repair that most often turns into a replacement decision, because a cracked exchanger can leak combustion gases into the air stream and the part itself is a large share of a new furnace. If a technician reports a crack, ask to see it on camera or in a combustion test before you decide either way.
Multiply the furnace's age in years by the repair quote. Over $5,000, most guides say replace; under it, repair. A 12-year-old furnace with a $400 repair scores 4,800 (repair). A 16-year-old furnace with a $600 repair scores 9,600 (replace). It is a rule of thumb from the trade, not a code or a warranty term, and it works best alongside the 50 percent rule: if one repair costs more than half of a new unit, replace.
Usually no. Trane and AC Coastal both put a furnace's service life at 15 to 20 years, so at 25 the $5,000 rule fails on almost any repair over $200. A gas furnace replacement in New Jersey ran $3,000 to $7,500 per AC Coastal (February 2026) and $3,500 to $8,500 per HVAC Project Cost (July 2026). The exception is a cheap, isolated part on a unit that has otherwise been maintained, when you need heat this week and want time to get replacement bids without a deadline.
No. LA Trusted Partners is a New Jersey matching network, not an HVAC contractor and not a dispatcher. A request on this page is reviewed, and only when approved coverage is confirmed are your details shared with an independent licensed HVACR contractor who contacts you directly. LA Trusted Partners does not set, quote, or guarantee any contractor's pricing, arrival time, diagnosis, or outcome.
Published September 14, 2026. Cost figures are the cited publishers’ national or New Jersey ranges on their stated dates and will be refreshed when those sources change. The heat requirement is summarized from N.J.A.C. 5:10-14.4 and 5:28-1.8; your municipal housing or construction office has the final word for your address. Search-volume figures are DataForSEO New Jersey estimates pulled September 14, 2026.
Send the symptom, the age of the unit, and what you already checked. If coverage is confirmed for your town, an independent licensed HVACR contractor calls you with a diagnosis you can weigh against the numbers on this page.
