Furnace Repair in Kent, OH
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Portage County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eight months of heat puts real wear on a Kent furnace
From October through May your furnace is the thing standing between you and a 21°F night. That is eight months of the burner lighting, running, and shutting off, over and over, every day of the week. Each cycle puts a little more wear on the igniter and the parts that control the flame.
Most homes in Kent heat with gas, so when the igniter fails or the flame sensor gets dirty, the furnace will not stay lit and the house starts to cool. Portage County has also seen 12 winter storms and 93 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and storms like that bring power outages. Across Ohio, 18% of households lost power for a day or more in 2024. A furnace needs electricity to run its blower and controls, so an outage means no heat even if the gas is working fine.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 21°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 64%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 12 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace would cut about $170 a year off heating for a typical Portage County home.
Estimates for a typical Portage 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.
Portage County sets its own rule for who can do this work, since Ohio leaves HVAC licensing to the counties rather than handling it at the state level. Whatever a county requires, it applies only inside that county's lines. Ohio's definition of a home contractor calls for at least $250,000 in liability insurance, but that is a definition written into state law, not a license anyone tests for.
A furnace burns gas, and the connection to the gas line is the part that has to be right. With no state license standing behind the work, the check that matters here is whatever Portage County requires before a repair like this is signed off. Most homes in this county heat with gas, which is exactly why that connection is the part worth getting right.
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 temperature is set above the room temperature, and change the batteries if it uses them. If the thermostat looks right, check the breaker for the furnace and the switch that looks like a light switch near the unit, since that shuts the furnace off for service and gets bumped off by accident. If power is fine and it still won't start, the igniter or a safety switch inside the furnace may be the problem, and that's a job for a contractor to diagnose.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- Most often the furnace is running the blower but the burners haven't lit. Check the air filter first, since a clogged one can cause the furnace to shut the burners off while still blowing air. If the filter is clean, the igniter or the flame sensor is a common cause, and a furnace that's just started its cycle may also blow cool air for a short stretch before the air warms up. If it keeps blowing cold with no warm air at all, have a contractor take a look before you run it much longer.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- This usually means the thermocouple has worn out. That's the small part that senses the pilot flame and tells the gas valve it's safe to stay open, and once it fails the valve shuts the gas off even though the pilot lit fine. A draft blowing out the flame or a dirty pilot orifice can also cause it. Either way it's a part a contractor needs to replace or clean, not something to keep relighting on your own.