24/7 Emergency Boiler Service
Emergency Boiler Repair in Elgin & the Fox Valley — 24/7 Service
Boiler locked out, radiators cold or water on the basement floor? Call now. A person answers 24/7, a technician is dispatched, and you get a flat-rate price in writing before any repair. Hot-water and steam boilers, every brand, with a flat diagnostic fee and a flat-rate repair price you approve before work.
- 24/7, including weekends and holidays
- Hot-water and steam boilers, all brands
- Price approved before work starts
- Licensed, insured and bonded
Boiler Down: Is It an Emergency or Can It Wait Until Morning?
Boilers fail in ways that range from a nuisance to a flooded basement. Here is how we sort them, so you can make the call with a clear head.
Call now if:
- It is below freezing outside and the boiler will not fire or the radiators are all cold
- Water is leaking steadily from the boiler, a pipe or the relief valve
- The relief valve is blowing off repeatedly
- You smell gas, or a carbon monoxide alarm is sounding
- The boiler is banging hard, or you see scorching, soot or smoke at the burner or flue
- You have infants, elderly family members or anyone with a health condition at home, and the house is losing heat
It can usually wait until morning if:
- One radiator or one zone is cold but the rest of the house is holding temperature
- The boiler is gurgling or slightly louder than usual but still heating
- The pressure gauge is a little high or low but the boiler runs and nothing is leaking
- The boiler locked out once, reset, and has run normally since
For anything that can wait, book a regular boiler repair visit online and we will confirm your arrival window. For everything else, call (847) 224-2420.
What to Do Right Now
Safety first, then stop the water, then keep the house from getting colder.
Smell gas? Leave the house right away, call 911 from outside, and call your gas utility’s emergency line from outside before calling us.
Carbon monoxide alarm going off? Get everyone outside, call 911 or your gas utility, and do not run the boiler again until it has been inspected.
Boiler leaking? Turn the boiler off at its power switch. Close the water feed valve, the shutoff on the cold-water line that feeds the boiler’s fill valve, so the system stops refilling and the leak slows. Put a bucket or towels under the drip. Do not try to run the boiler with the feed closed for long; it can run low on water and trip the low-water cutoff, or worse.
Relief valve discharging? Same steps: boiler off, feed valve closed. The valve is opening because pressure hit 30 psi, and the cause is almost always the expansion tank or fill valve. That is a repair we can make the same visit.
Protect your pipes. Below freezing, a house with no heat can drop into pipe-freezing territory within a day, and boiler homes have water in every radiator and baseboard loop, not just the plumbing. Open cabinet doors under sinks on exterior walls, let the farthest faucet drip, keep interior doors open, and use a safe space heater in the room where the family will stay. Plug it straight into the wall, never a power strip, and never leave it running unattended.
One reset only. If the control shows a lockout, press reset once. If it locks out again, stop. Repeated resets hide the fault we need to see.
Check These Before You Call
A few no-heat boiler calls turn out to be something a homeowner can fix in a minute. Run through this list first. If it does not fix it, it tells us where to start.
1
Thermostat
Set to Heat with the setpoint a few degrees above the room temperature. If the screen is blank, replace the batteries. In a zoned house, check the thermostat for the zone that is cold.
2
Power switch and breaker
Find the light-switch-style power switch on or near the boiler and the boiler’s breaker in the panel. Both get turned off by accident more often than you would think, especially after summer work in the basement.
3
Pressure gauge
A hot-water boiler should read roughly 12 to 15 psi cold. Near zero means the system lost water and the low-water cutoff may be holding the burner off. Over 25 psi means the expansion tank or fill valve has failed. Either way, tell us the number.
4
Sight glass on a steam boiler
The glass tube on the side of a steam boiler should be about half full. Empty means the low-water cutoff has shut the burner off. Do not add a lot of cold water to a hot, empty boiler; call first.
5
Gas valve and pilot
The gas valve handle on the supply pipe should be in line with the pipe. On an older standing-pilot boiler, look for the pilot flame. If it is out, you can try relighting it once by the instructions on the jacket. If it will not stay lit, the thermocouple has probably failed.
6
Control display and reset
Modern boilers show a fault code on the control. Write it down before you press reset. The code tells us whether it is ignition, flow, venting, pressure or a sensor, and that decides which parts come in from the van.
If it runs, great. If it fails again, stop and call. Tell us the code, the pressure reading, what you heard and what you already checked.
What the Technician Does When We Arrive
An emergency visit is the same careful diagnosis as a daytime visit, done with the goal of getting heat on tonight.
Diagnosis. The technician confirms the thermostat call, then follows the boiler’s own sequence: the relay or control, the circulator or zone valve, ignition and flame proof, then the safeties. We check system pressure, the expansion tank and relief valve, bleed a radiator to check for air, inspect the burners and venting, and on steam boilers check the water level, the low-water cutoff and the vents. This takes 30 to 60 minutes on most boilers.
Price before work. We show you the failed part, explain why it failed, and give you a flat-rate price in writing. The repair is quoted flat-rate, and you approve that price before any work. Nothing is done without your yes.
The repair. Our vans carry circulator cartridges, zone valve heads, relief valves, expansion tanks, thermocouples, igniters and common controls, so most emergency boiler repairs are finished the same visit. A brand-specific gas valve or board may need to be ordered, and where it is safe we get the boiler running until it arrives.
Testing. We fill and purge the loop, set the pressure, run a full heat cycle, check flame signal and combustion, confirm each zone gets hot, and test for carbon monoxide before we leave. Then you get an invoice listing the part, the readings and any recommendations.
What Emergency Boiler Repair Costs
Flat-rate, in writing, before work starts. After-hours service calls are priced higher than business-hours calls, and you hear that rate before we dispatch.
Every visit starts with a flat diagnostic fee. During office hours (9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday) the service call is $130; weekday evenings after 5 p.m. it is $180, and nights, weekends and holidays are $260. Each includes 30 minutes of travel and 30 minutes of diagnostics, and parts are extra. It covers the trip and the time to find the actual problem. The repair is then quoted flat-rate, and you approve that price before any work. If you decide not to repair, the diagnostic fee is all you owe, and you keep the written findings.
Boiler repairs range widely because the parts do. A thermocouple, radiator vent or relief valve is a small, quick job. A zone valve, expansion tank or aquastat sits in the middle. A circulator, gas valve or control board is at the top, and a leaking section or heat exchanger usually means replacement rather than repair. You see the number for your exact repair before you say yes.
After-hours, weekend and holiday service calls are priced higher than business-hours calls. We tell you the after-hours rate on the phone before we dispatch, so there are no surprises at the door. Maintenance plan members get one free business-hours service call a year, priority scheduling and 5% off repairs. If a large repair or a replacement is the outcome, you can prequalify for financing in about 2 minutes with no impact to your credit score.
The First Cold Snap and Sub-Zero Nights
Boiler emergencies in the Fox Valley cluster in two stretches of the winter.
The first cold snap, October to November. A boiler that sat idle all summer is asked to run all night. Air that worked into the loop blocks radiators, relief valves that seized start to weep, expansion tanks that lost their charge send pressure climbing, and thermocouples and flame sensors that were marginal in March fail to prove flame. Call volume spikes and arrival windows stretch. A fall tune-up in September is how you skip this week.
Sub-zero nights, December to February. Elgin’s design temperature is near 0°F, and the boiler runs almost nonstop. Circulators that were running hot finally seize. This is when a boiler failure is most urgent, because a boiler home has water in every radiator and the house cools fast. We run 24/7 through it, and plan members go to the front of the line.
If your boiler is over 20 years old and this is its second or third emergency, the honest next step is a boiler replacement conversation once the heat is back on. A 95% AFUE condensing or combi boiler with the Nicor Gas discount, installed right, ends the cycle.
Why Fox Valley Homeowners Call Rest Assured When the Boiler Quits
We are a local Elgin company. The person who answers at night can tell you when a technician will be at your door.
Laars boilers, installed by our team. We repair every brand.
- 24/7 emergency boiler service across Kane, McHenry, DuPage and DeKalb counties
- Hot-water and steam boilers, radiators and baseboard, every brand repaired
- Owner Jeff Kerley is EPA 608 Universal and NATE certified in gas heating installation
- Licensed, insured and bonded; municipally licensed in Elgin, Aurora, Bartlett, Huntley and Streamwood
- BBB of Chicago & Northern Illinois Complaint Free Award, 2024 and 2025
- Housecall Pro Superpro 2024 through 2026
- Stocked vans, so most emergency boiler repairs are done in one visit
Not an emergency? Book a regular boiler repair visit, or see all boiler services. Furnace or heat pump out instead? See emergency furnace repair or emergency heat pump repair.
Skip the Line Next Time: Priority Scheduling for Plan Members
Our semi-annual maintenance plan is $240 a year: a fall heating tune-up and a spring cooling tune-up, each up to a $130 value, plus one free business-hours service call, priority scheduling and 5% off services. That is up to $390 in services for $240. When the first cold snap hits and the schedule fills, plan members are dispatched first.
The fall boiler tune-up is also the single best way to make sure you never need this page. See what a boiler tune-up includes. Boiler home with no cooling? A ductless mini-split is the usual answer, and the plan’s spring visit covers it.
Emergency Boiler Repair Across the Fox Valley
Based in Elgin, we serve homes throughout Kane, McHenry, DuPage and DeKalb counties.
- Elgin
- South Elgin
- St. Charles
- Aurora
- Bartlett
- Streamwood
- Huntley
- Plato Center
- Sycamore
- Carpentersville
- West Dundee
- East Dundee
- Algonquin
- Gilberts
- Hampshire
- Pingree Grove
- Campton Hills
- Geneva
- Batavia
- Barrington
- Hoffman Estates
- Schaumburg
- Burlington
- Marengo
- Wayne
- Sleepy Hollow
Don’t see your town? Call (847) 224-2420. View all service areas.
Emergency Boiler Repair FAQs
Do you offer 24-hour emergency boiler repair in Elgin?
Yes. Call (847) 224-2420 any hour, any day, including weekends and holidays. A person answers, asks whether the boiler is hot-water or steam and what it is doing, and tells you when a technician can be there. We serve Elgin and the Fox Valley across Kane, McHenry, DuPage and DeKalb counties.
When is a boiler problem an emergency?
A boiler that will not fire when it is below freezing outside, water leaking steadily from the boiler, a relief valve blowing off repeatedly, a gas smell or a carbon monoxide alarm. A single cold radiator, a gurgle or a boiler that is louder than usual can usually wait until morning.
My boiler is leaking. What should I do right now?
Close the water feed valve to the boiler, which is usually on the cold-water line near the fill valve, so the system stops refilling and the leak slows. Turn the boiler off at its power switch. Put a bucket under the drip if you can. Then call. Do not run the boiler with the feed closed for long, because it can trip the low-water cutoff or run dry.
My radiators are all cold but the boiler is running. Is that an emergency?
If the boiler is hot and the radiators are cold, the circulator has probably failed or air is blocking the loop. The boiler will keep cycling on its high limit and the house will get cold. If it is freezing outside, call now. If it is mild, it can wait for a regular repair visit.
What should I check before calling?
Thermostat set to Heat with a setpoint above room temperature; the boiler’s power switch and breaker; the pressure gauge, which should read roughly 12 to 15 psi cold on a hot-water boiler; the sight glass on a steam boiler, which should be about half full; and the gas valve handle in line with the pipe. Then press the reset once and watch what the control does.
Can I reset my boiler myself?
Once. If the control shows a lockout, press reset and let it try again. If it locks out a second time, stop. Repeated resets on a boiler can mask a venting, flame or low-water problem, and that is exactly the kind of fault you want us to see, not clear.
How much does emergency boiler repair cost?
Every visit starts with a flat diagnostic fee, and the repair is quoted flat-rate for you to approve before any work. Once we find the fault you get a flat-rate price in writing. A thermocouple or relief valve is a small repair; a circulator, gas valve or control board is larger. You see your number before we start.
Is there an extra charge for after-hours boiler service?
Yes. After-hours service calls are priced higher than business-hours calls. We tell you the rate on the phone before we dispatch, and the repair price is in writing before any work. Maintenance plan members get one free business-hours service call per year, priority scheduling and 5% off repairs.
Why does my boiler keep locking out?
A safety control stopped the burner: a flame sensor that cannot prove flame, a pressure switch that will not close, a low-water cutoff that sees no water, a blocked vent or a high limit that opened. We read the code, then test each safety rather than just resetting it.
My relief valve is spraying water. Is that dangerous?
The relief valve is doing its job: pressure hit 30 psi. That means the expansion tank has waterlogged or the fill valve is stuck open. Turn the boiler off, close the water feed, and call. It is not usually dangerous, but every discharge cycle is dumping hot water on your floor and stressing the boiler.
Can you fix my boiler the same night?
Often. Our vans carry circulator cartridges, zone valve heads, relief valves, expansion tanks, thermocouples, igniters and common controls. A brand-specific gas valve or board may need to be ordered, and where it is safe we get the boiler running until it arrives.
Do you work on steam boilers in an emergency?
Yes. Steam boilers in older Elgin, St. Charles, Sycamore and East Dundee homes have their own failure points: low-water cutoffs, automatic feeders, pressuretrols, sight glasses and vents. We carry the common parts and service them 24/7.
Do you repair boilers you did not install?
Yes. We install Laars boilers and repair every brand of residential hot-water and steam boiler, including Weil-McLain, Burnham, Peerless, Utica, Navien, Lochinvar and Bosch, no matter who put it in.
What if my boiler is too old to fix?
We say so plainly. A cracked section or leaking heat exchanger on a boiler over 20 years old is a replacement, not a repair. We get you safe for the night where possible and put together a free written replacement quote with the $350 or $500 Nicor Gas discount already figured in.
How do I avoid a boiler emergency next winter?
A fall boiler tune-up resets the pressure, tests the safeties, cleans the burner and purges the air before the heating season. The maintenance plan adds priority scheduling, so if something does fail on a cold night, you are at the front of the line.
Boiler Down? Call Now.
24/7 emergency boiler repair in Elgin and the Fox Valley. Call and we’ll tell you exactly when a technician will be there.
Not urgent? Book a regular boiler repair or contact us.
Discount amounts reflect the 2026 Nicor Gas Energy Efficiency Program for qualifying equipment installed January 1 through December 31, 2026, and are subject to change or cancellation due to funding limits. Rest Assured HVAC LLC is an independent contractor and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Nicor Gas.
