Furnace Repair in Blacksburg, VA
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Montgomery County will get in touch.
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Eight months of heat puts real wear on a furnace
Blacksburg needs heat from October through May, eight months of the year your furnace is cycling on. Most nights it is working against a winter low near 26°F, lighting the burner and running the blower over and over to hold the house steady. Each start puts wear on the igniter, and over a winter that repeated firing is usually what wears it out first.
Most homes here heat with electricity, so the furnace depends on power not just for the blower but to light at all. Montgomery County has seen 18 winter storms and 94 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and in 2024, 22% of Virginia households lost power for 24 hours or more. When the power drops in the middle of a cold night, a furnace that was already due for a repair may not start back up on its own.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 26°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 18 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Virginia requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The Board for Contractors issues this license to the contractor as a business, not for each job separately. It covers the contractor across every job they take on, this repair included. Virginia carves out one exception to that rule. Work under $1,000 does not need a licensed contractor at all.
A furnace repair can land on either side of that line depending on the cost of the work. Above it, the license is what stands behind the contractor doing the job. Below it, that requirement drops away. The gas connection is the part that has to be done right regardless, and where the job is licensed, the contractor's license is what accountability for that connection runs through.
Sources: Virginia General Assembly · Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. Check that it's set to heat and the temperature is above room temperature, and check the batteries if it has them. If that's not it, look at the breaker panel and the furnace's own power switch, which looks like a light switch and sits on or near the unit. Many furnaces also have a door that has to be seated right against a safety switch, so if it was left open or not latched, the furnace won't fire. If none of that works, something inside needs a contractor to look at it.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- If air is moving but it's not warm, the furnace may be running the blower without the burners lighting. That happens when the igniter has failed or the flame sensor can't detect a flame, and the system shuts the gas off as a safety measure. It can also mean the filter is clogged enough that the furnace overheated and tripped a limit switch, so it keeps blowing air to cool down without heating. Either way the furnace needs a contractor to find which part failed.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- A pilot light that won't stay lit is almost always the thermocouple, the small sensor that proves to the gas valve that a flame is present. When it wears out or gets coated in soot, it can't send that signal, so the valve shuts the gas off even though the pilot was burning a second ago. A draft blowing out the pilot is possible too, but if it happens every time, it's the thermocouple. That part is inexpensive to replace but needs a contractor, since it involves the gas valve.