Furnace Repair in Stephens City, VA
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Frederick County will get in touch.
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It takes about a minute.
Eight months of heat, and the grid doesn't always hold
Your furnace runs from October through May here, eight months of the year, on nights that average 25°F. That's a lot of cycles, a lot of starts, and each one puts a little more wear on the igniter and the burner. When one of those parts finally gives out, you notice it fast because the house doesn't hold heat the way it used to.
Half the homes in this area heat with electricity, and the power here doesn't always stay on. Frederick County has logged 16 winter storms and 134 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and across Virginia last year, 22% of households lost power for at least a day. When the power drops, a furnace that runs on electric ignition or an electric blower stops with it, and it won't start again until the power does.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 25°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 16 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 that license, and it covers the contractor rather than any single job. The same license that covers your furnace repair covers whatever else that contractor takes on next.
Virginia carves out one exception. Work under $1,000 does not need a licensed contractor. A furnace repair can fall on either side of that line depending on what it costs, and Virginia's rule is written around the dollar amount, not the type of work. The gas connection is the part worth caring about, since a loose fitting or bad seal is what makes a repair dangerous rather than just incomplete.
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 that the batteries aren't dead. If the thermostat looks fine, check the furnace switch, the one that looks like a light switch near the unit, and make sure the breaker hasn't tripped. Furnaces also won't fire if the filter is choked with dust, since the pressure switch reads that as a blocked vent and shuts things down before ignition. If none of that gets it running, a contractor can check the igniter and the flame sensor, since either one failing will stop the furnace from starting.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- Most often the blower is running before the burners have caught up, which is normal for the first minute or so of a cycle. If cold air keeps coming for longer than that, the igniter or flame sensor may be failing, so the burners never light while the fan keeps moving air. A clogged filter can also cause this, since restricted airflow can trip a safety switch that cuts the burners but leaves the blower on. With nights averaging 25°F here in the winter, a furnace that's only blowing cold air needs attention fast. A contractor can tell you whether it's the igniter, the sensor, or something else.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- This usually means the thermocouple is failing. That's the small part that sits in the pilot flame and tells the gas valve the flame is lit. When it wears out, it reads the flame as out even when it's burning, so the gas valve shuts off. A draft blowing across the pilot or a dirty pilot opening can cause the same thing, so it's worth checking that the area around the pilot is clear. If relighting it keeps ending the same way, the thermocouple is the part to have a contractor replace.