Every October we start getting the same call.
A homeowner in Merrick or Wantagh wakes up on the first cold morning of the season, walks to the thermostat, turns the heat up — and nothing happens. Or something does happen. A loud bang. A burning smell. Heat coming out of two rooms but not the rest of the house.
Last fall we got 23 calls like that in a single week. Some were quick fixes. A few weren’t. But almost all of them could have been avoided with an annual heating tune-up done before the season started.
We’re AJ Services. We’re a family-owned plumbing and heating company based right here in Bellmore. We’ve been servicing heating systems across Nassau County for over 20 years. And every September we say the same thing to every customer we talk to: schedule your tune-up now, before the cold hits, before every heating contractor on Long Island is backed up two weeks deep.
Here’s everything you need to know.
Most Long Island homes heat with a boiler. Gas boilers, oil boilers, older atmospheric systems, newer high-efficiency condensing units — we service all of them, and we’ve seen all of them fail in January when they hadn’t been touched since the previous winter.
A boiler tune-up isn’t just about cleaning. It’s about catching problems before they become emergencies. A cracked heat exchanger. A burner assembly that’s running dirty. A circulator pump that’s starting to make noise. These are all things we find during a tune-up that most homeowners would never notice — until the system stops working at 6am on a Thursday in February.
Our boiler service includes a full inspection of the burner, heat exchanger, flue connections, pressure relief valve, expansion tank, and circulator pump. We test and adjust gas or oil pressure, bleed the system if it’s hydronic, and document everything so you have a record.
AJ Services tip: Nassau County’s hard water causes mineral scale to build up inside boiler heat exchangers faster than most homeowners realize. Annual descaling keeps your system running efficiently and extends its life — especially on Navien and other condensing units.
You wouldn’t drive your car 50,000 miles without an oil change. But a lot of Long Island homeowners go years between heating system service calls — and then wonder why their boiler breaks down or their heating bills keep going up.
Long Island’s coastal climate is rough on heating equipment. Salt air speeds up corrosion on flue pipes and components. The humidity cycles between summer and winter stress mechanical parts. And Nassau County’s water has higher mineral content than most places, which accelerates scale buildup inside heat exchangers and water heaters.
Annual heating maintenance from AJ Services keeps all of that in check. We’ve been maintaining heating systems in Bellmore, Wantagh, Merrick, Baldwin, Freeport, Oceanside, and communities across Nassau County long enough to know exactly what these systems need and when.
Most manufacturers also require proof of annual maintenance to honor warranty claims. If your boiler breaks down and the manufacturer asks for service records, you’ll want to have them.
When someone in Nassau County asks “who’s the best heating contractor near me,” we want the honest answer to be AJ Services — because we’ve earned it over 20 years of showing up on time, doing good work, and treating Long Island homeowners the way we’d want to be treated.
We’re based in Bellmore, at 2448 Charles Ct. Not a franchise. Not a national chain. A local family business that has been part of this community for a long time. Ben, the owner, is personally involved in the work. When you call us, you’re dealing with people who actually live and work here — not a call center routing your call to whoever’s available.
Our reviews say it better than we can. 4.9 stars across 206+ reviews. Customers mention that we show up when we say we will, that we explain the work clearly, that we clean up after ourselves, and that we don’t try to sell them things they don’t need. That’s the reputation we’ve built, one Nassau County home at a time.
People sometimes ask what we actually do during a tune-up. Fair question. Here’s what an AJ Services heating tune-up covers:
The whole job usually takes 60–90 minutes. You get a written summary of what we found, what we did, and if there’s anything we noticed that you should keep an eye on.
Sometimes a tune-up turns up a problem that needs fixing. A failing zone valve. A circulator pump that’s starting to go. A baseboard section with a pinhole leak. These aren’t surprises we spring on you — we explain what we found, what it means, and what it’ll cost to fix it. You decide.
And because we service all types of heating systems, we can usually handle the repair the same day. No second appointment, no waiting for a different tech to come out.
Common heating repairs we find during tune-ups in Nassau County homes:
We do our best to prevent no-heat emergencies through annual maintenance. But if your heat goes out in the middle of winter, we’re available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
When you call AJ Services for an emergency, you get a real person — not an answering machine or an answering service that takes a message and passes it along. We respond to emergency heating calls across all of Nassau County, including nights, weekends, and holidays.
If you’re dealing with no heat right now, call us directly at (516) 807-8700. We’ll get someone out to you.
The honest answer: September or early October. That’s the window before Nassau County homeowners start calling because their heat isn’t working. Once the first cold snap hits, every heating company on Long Island is running full speed trying to catch up.
Schedule in September, get your pick of appointment times, and go into winter knowing your system has been checked over by experienced hands. That’s the move.
If you’ve missed that window and it’s already cold, call us anyway. We’ll fit you in as fast as we can and we’ll always be honest with you about timeframes.
Most annual heating tune-ups from AJ Services fall in the $150–$200 range depending on the type and age of your system. We’ll give you a straight price before we start — no surprises.
For most Nassau County homes, expect 60 to 90 minutes. Older systems or those that haven’t been serviced in a few years may take a bit longer.
Yes. Especially on Long Island. The combination of hard water, coastal air, and the demands of a real winter make annual maintenance genuinely important here — not just a nice-to-have. Most manufacturers also require it for warranty coverage.
That’s what the 23 homeowners we mentioned at the top thought, too. Heating systems don’t usually give a lot of warning before they fail. A tune-up is about catching problems while they’re still small.
AJ Services serves all of Nassau County — Bellmore, Wantagh, Merrick, Baldwin, Freeport, Oceanside, Lynbrook, Valley Stream, Rockville Centre, Garden City, Levittown, Long Beach, Massapequa, New Hyde Park, and more. Call (516) 807-8700 to get on the schedule.
Our emergency phone line is 24/7.
Appointments are scheduled from 8-5 Monday through Friday, except for emergencies
Phone: 516-807-8700
Address: 2448 Charles Ct, Bellmore, NY 11710