HVAC in Providence is old heat asked to work through a damp coastal winter. Steam knocks in triple-deckers. Radiators on the East Side leave a far room cold when the vent fails. One boiler may serve several floors. Window units stay in the sash and drip, rattle in a bay wind, and rot the casing. Basements near the rivers run damp enough that rust is the normal color of metal. Start with what is actually installed.
No heat on the top floor and a hot parlor is often air in the pipes or a dead vent, not a boiler that must be replaced tonight. A fuel smell or soot on the jacket is a different call. Outdoor coils near Fox Point and the bay side take salt and die ugly. A ductless head in a finished attic does not stop ice at the eave and does not dry a cellar. Summer humidity here is thick. Cooling without a plan for moisture disappoints in a brick house.
Chimneys sized for an older fire may be wrong for the burner now attached. Spillage and a CO alarm are reasons to stop adjusting things. When a nor'easter drops the power, know whether the heat needs electricity to run. Radiator leaks print on the ceiling below and get blamed on the roof. Say if the wet is under a radiator or under a bath. Those calls should not be swapped.
Tanks in damp basements weep at the fittings. If the boiler makes hot water, a failed coil is both trades at once. Side yards are small, so an outdoor unit competes with the bulkhead and the meters. Say which rooms were added, especially a third floor that never had a radiator. You do not need the model plate if the cellar is awkward. You need the fuel and the symptom.
Have the neighborhood, the building, and the floor that fails. Mention salt exposure if you can see the water from the block. Say smell, no heat, or a leak. Call the number on this page.