Furnace Repair in Vinton, VA
Furnaces here run from October through April. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Roanoke County will get in touch.
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Seven months of work for your furnace in Vinton
From October through April, your furnace is what keeps your house warm. Winter nights here average 28°F, so on the coldest ones the burner is lighting and shutting off again and again through the night. Each cycle puts wear on the igniter and the flame sensor, and those are usually the first parts to fail.
Vinton has seen 19 winter storms and 136 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and in 2024, 22% of Virginia households lost power for 24 hours or more. Close to half of homes here heat with electricity, so when the power goes out, the furnace goes with it, and it has to come back on and light properly once service returns.
- 7 months
- October through April, your furnace is on duty
- 28°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 19 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.
Virginia's license is issued to the contractor by the Board for Contractors, and it covers that contractor's business, not each individual job. Work under $1,000 falls outside that requirement. A furnace repair can land on either side of that line depending on what the job involves, from a small part swap to a larger repair.
A furnace repair means someone working on a gas line and an ignition system, where the risk is a bad connection or a leak. The license does not inspect that connection on any given job. It tells you the state has vetted the business doing the work, before that work starts.
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 set above the room temperature, then check the breaker for the furnace and the switch that looks like a light switch near the unit itself. If those are fine, the igniter may have failed, or a safety switch has shut the furnace down because of a clogged filter or a drain line backup. With winter lows here averaging 28°F, it's worth having a contractor look at it the same day rather than waiting.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- Most often the furnace is still in its startup cycle, where the blower runs before the flame has fully heated the air. If cold air keeps coming for more than a few minutes, the igniter or flame sensor may be failing to light the burners at all, or the furnace has overheated and shut off its burners while the blower keeps running. A dirty filter can cause that overheating, so check it first. If the filter is clean and the air stays cold, a contractor will need to find out why the burners aren't firing.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- This usually means the thermocouple has worn out and can no longer sense that the pilot is lit, so it shuts the gas valve. It can also mean a draft is blowing the flame out, or the pilot orifice is partly clogged. A standing pilot doesn't use electricity, so a power outage isn't the cause. Relighting it yourself may hold for a day or two, but if it keeps going out, the part behind it needs to be replaced.