Furnace Repair in Columbus, OH
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Franklin County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eight months of heat puts a lot of wear on your furnace
From October through May your furnace is the thing standing between you and a 24°F night. That's most of the year spent cycling on and off, and every cycle asks the igniter to light the burner one more time. Igniters wear out from this, not from age on a calendar.
Most homes in this area heat with gas, so when the furnace stops working, there's no backup warming the house. And with wind events common here, a power blink can shut a furnace down mid-cycle. Some furnaces restart on their own. Others need a reset, or a call, before they'll light again.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 24°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 67%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 6 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace would cut about $150 a year off heating for a typical Franklin County home.
Estimates for a typical Franklin County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Ohio fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Repair makes sense when one part has failed and the heat exchanger is sound.
Replacement makes sense when the heat exchanger is cracked or the furnace keeps needing parts.
In Ohio, HVAC licensing for homes is left to the counties.
Franklin County sets its own rule for who can do HVAC work on a house, because Ohio leaves that decision to the counties instead of running a state license itself. Whether a contractor needs a county license, and what that license checks, depends on where in the county the house sits. Ohio's definition of a home contractor calls for at least $250,000 in liability insurance, but that is a description of what qualifies as a contractor under state law, not a license or a test anyone has to pass.
For a furnace repair, the part that matters most is the gas connection, since a bad one is what makes the job dangerous. Whether that connection gets checked depends on the county's own rule, not any state license, because Ohio does not run one. In Franklin County, 66.9 percent of homes heat with gas, which is why that connection is the part of a furnace repair worth knowing who answers for.
Source: Ohio Legislative Service Commission
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. Check that it's set to heat and the setpoint is above room temperature, and swap the batteries if it's gone blank. If the thermostat looks fine, check the furnace switch, the one that looks like a light switch near the unit, and the breaker at your panel. A furnace that still won't start after that is likely stopping itself on purpose, because the igniter failed, the flame sensor is dirty, or a safety switch tripped. That calls for a contractor to find out which.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- Most often the blower is running before the burners have caught up, which happens for a short stretch every cycle and isn't a problem. If cold air keeps coming for more than a few minutes, the igniter or flame sensor may be failing and the burners aren't lighting at all. A dirty filter can also cause this by starving the burners of airflow they need to run right. If changing the filter doesn't fix it, have a contractor check the ignition system.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- A pilot light that won't stay lit is usually a thermocouple problem. That's the small sensor that tells the gas valve the flame is actually burning, and once it wears out or sits out of position, the valve shuts the gas off even though you just relit it. A draft blowing across the pilot can cause the same thing, so check whether it goes out right after lighting or only after a few minutes. Either way, this involves the gas valve and isn't something to keep relighting on your own. Have a contractor take a look, especially heading into winter here when you'll be relying on it through May.