Gas Heat...Turning it on Heating 101

lol.....question which may be dumb but I'm a new HO....

We have gas and central air...on the digital thermostat, I moved it to heat to test it out. (We have baseboards for heat)...it's not turning on or heating. I saw two of those red burner switches: one in boiler room was on and one on the way down to basement was off.

1. should I turn on both? Im not sure why there are two??
2. We get hot water fine....is there more than one pilot light and maybe we still need to light one?


MY FIL is going to try to come over but if we can do it, there's no need for him....

Re: Gas Heat...Turning it on Heating 101

What is the temp in the house, and what is the thermostat set for?

Both switches probably should be on. The one in the boiler room is for servicing, so the person working on the system can just reach over and turn the system on or off easily. The one on or near the basement stairs is for safety. If there is a fire in the basement, or other safety reason, you can turn off the system from the stairs instead of having to go into the basement to turn the system off.

Re: Gas Heat...Turning it on Heating 101

I have different thermostat for heat and ac. Ac was added later I guess but it has a mode for heat. I assume it doesn't do anything

Make sure your clock and temp settings are correct. I goofed and first day had the heat on at 6 am and then off at 8 so I thought it wasn't working

Re: Gas Heat...Turning it on Heating 101

Thanks for the replies- we got it to work. The panel switch was not fully in the on position even though it looked like it was. There was no power at all to the burner so we tested each switch until finally we saw the one that wasn't fully clicked to on. I'm warm and happy now!