One of the biggest mistakes I have ever made was when I called the HVAC last month. There wasn’t any heat coming from the air vents and I hadn’t heard the furnace run in a couple hours. The temperature was quickly beginning to fall in the house. I called the HVAC company and told them I needed my furnace inspected and repaired. The HVAC technician asked me several questions and he set up an appointment to come to the house. Luckily I only needed to wait for a couple hours before the technician showed up at the house. The first thing the HVAC tech did was look at the thermostat. He told me that the first thing I should do was check the battery. When the battery dies, the thermostat isn’t able to talk to the furnace and tell it when it is time to turn on or off. I was surprised to hear him say that most people who call for service at this time of year, end up just having a dead battery in their thermostat. He said that my problem was not the thermostat and asked where the furnace was. He was in the basement for about ten minutes when he came back upstairs. It wasn’t good news when he told me the furnace needed to be replaced, but I felt better about the situation. At least I wasn’t one of those people who called for service and never checked the battery in the thermostat. I had to go to a hotel for three days while the furnace was being replaced, but it wasn’t all that bad.