Furnace Repair in Dayton, OH
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
Dayton needs the furnace running from October through May. On a winter night averaging 24°F, the burner is cycling on and off for hours, and every cycle asks the igniter to light the gas again. That part wears down over years of starts, and when it finally gives out, the furnace won't light at all.
Most homes here heat with gas, so the pilot or igniter and the gas valve are doing that work all season. Montgomery County has also seen 188 damaging wind events and 8 winter storms over the past ten years, and power drops with them. If your furnace is gas, it still needs electricity to run the blower and controls, and it should come back on by itself once power is restored. If it doesn't, something else is wrong.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 24°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 63%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 8 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 Montgomery County home.
Estimates for a typical Montgomery 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.
Ohio does not issue a state license for this kind of work. Whether this contractor needs one depends on Montgomery County, since that decision is left to the county rather than the state. Ohio does define what a home contractor is. That definition requires carrying at least $250,000 in liability insurance. It is a definition, not a license, and nobody is tested to meet it.
For a furnace repair, the gas connection is the part that matters most. A bad one is what makes the job dangerous. Whether that gets checked here comes down to Montgomery County's own permitting process, not a state license, since Ohio does not run one. Gas furnaces are the common case in Montgomery County. 63.3% of homes here heat with gas.
Source: Ohio Legislative Service Commission
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Most often the thermostat isn't calling for heat the way you think it is, or the furnace isn't getting power or gas. Check that the thermostat is set to heat and the temperature is above room temperature, and check the breaker and the furnace's own power switch, which is usually a light switch on or near the unit. If those are fine, the igniter may have failed or the flame sensor may be dirty, and a furnace won't run without either of those working. With eight months of heating season here, a furnace that won't start is worth having looked at soon rather than waiting.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- If air is moving but it's not warm, the furnace may be running the blower without a flame. That happens when the igniter fails, the flame sensor is too dirty to detect a flame, or the gas valve isn't opening, and the system shuts off the burner as a safety measure while the fan keeps circulating air. It can also mean the furnace is in the middle of its normal startup, when the blower runs for a few seconds before the burner fires. If the air stays cold the whole cycle, the furnace needs a technician to find out which of those it is.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- A pilot that won't stay lit usually means the thermocouple isn't sensing the flame, so the gas valve shuts off. It can also mean a draft is blowing the flame out, or the pilot orifice is dirty and the flame is too weak to hold. A standing pilot uses no electricity, so this isn't a power issue. Relighting it yourself is fine to try once following the instructions on the furnace, but if it goes out again a technician needs to check the thermocouple and the gas supply.