Propane is the heat in about four owner homes in ten in ZIP 20106. Electricity is next, a bit over a third, then oil at about one in eight and utility gas at about two in a hundred. So the furnace on the tune-up list here is most likely a propane one, and it has its own numbers: a higher manifold pressure than a natural gas furnace, and a gauge reading that only means something against the figure on its own rating plate.
Oil is the one fuel we don’t work on, so if you’re among the one in eight on oil, an oil service company is who you want. A heat pump, a boiler or a ductless mini split gets a tune-up at $99 a system, and the electric houses, a bit over a third of the ZIP, are covered the same as the propane ones.
This is a real heating climate. The Boston station, 10.3 miles south-southwest, counts 4,836 heating degree days a year, about 120 nights at or below freezing and a January average low of 22.9 degrees. Cold snaps cut deeper: 12 below zero there on January 7, 2014, and 3 degrees at Sperryville on January 27, 30 and 31 of 2026, under Extreme Cold Warnings.
The first 32 degree night comes around October 22, the Boston station’s median, so September into early October is the tune-up window. A furnace that has been off since spring has to prove itself on the first cold night; the tune-up makes it prove itself on a mild day instead. Anything it finds is priced in writing before work starts, and you decide.