HVAC in Portland, Maine, has to survive a nor'easter, not a drizzly afternoon. Boilers and radiators still heat brick West End houses and wood houses on Munjoy Hill. When the wind takes the power, pumps and ignitions stop, and the peninsula gets cold fast off the bay. Outdoor coils toward the water take salt and die ugly. Window units left in the sash rattle, leak, and rot the casing in the same blow that soaks the wall. Start with the machine in the cellar and whether it needs electricity.
No heat on the top floor and a hot parlor can be air in the pipes or a dead vent, not a dead boiler. A fuel smell or soot is a different call. Chimneys in these older buildings may be the wrong size for what is attached now. A CO alarm ends the adjusting. Ductless heads in a finished attic do not stop rain from being driven under shingles, and they do not dry a basement that just took storm water. Summer humidity is real. The heating plant is what decides a January night.
Side yards are small. An outdoor unit competes with a bulkhead, meters, and wind that comes straight up the prom or across Back Cove. Condensate lines freeze after the storm turns cold, which is the usual sequence here: soak, then freeze. Radiator leaks print on the ceiling below and get blamed on the roof. Say whether the wet is under a radiator or under a bath, and whether it appeared with the wind. Those are different trades.
Know what still makes heat with the power out. A stove or a fireplace is not a plan unless the flue is safe. Tanks in damp cellars weep at the fittings. If the boiler makes hot water, a failed coil is both problems at once. You do not need the model plate from a dark corner. You need the fuel, the neighborhood, and the floor that is cold. Salt exposure matters if you can see the bay from the block.
Have the system and the symptom. Say if this is no heat after a coastal storm, a smell, or equipment the salt has ruined. Mention shared boilers if other floors are involved. Call the number on this page.