Furnace Repair in Newark, OH
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Licking County will get in touch.
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Eight months of heat puts real wear on a Newark furnace
Your furnace runs from October through May here, eight months out of the year. On winter nights that average 22°F, it cycles on and off for hours at a stretch to keep the house warm. Each cycle puts load on the igniter and the burner, and over a long season that wear adds up.
Most homes in the area heat with gas, so when the furnace stops, nothing else is warming the house. That matters when storms come through. Licking County has logged 8 winter storms and 133 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and outages follow both. Statewide, 18% of Ohio households went at least a full day without power in 2024. A gas furnace with electronic ignition does not restart on its own once power comes back, and a cold house is often the first sign it needs a look.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 22°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 65%
- 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 $160 a year off heating for a typical Licking County home.
Estimates for a typical Licking 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.
Licking County sets its own rule for who can do this work, and whether a contractor needs a local license depends on the county the house sits in rather than any state test or state record. Ohio does define what counts as a home contractor for insurance purposes, and that definition requires carrying at least $250,000 in liability insurance. That is not a license and nobody is tested against it. It just sets a bar for coverage.
For a furnace repair, the thing that matters most is the gas connection, and that is where a bad repair turns dangerous. Ohio's rules do not put a state inspector on that connection. Anyone doing this work still has to meet the fuel gas code, and depending on the scope of the repair, the local building department may be the one checking that the work was done right. With most homes in Licking County heating with gas, that connection is not a small detail on this job.
Source: Ohio Legislative Service Commission
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. Make sure it's set to heat and the temperature is set above room temperature, since a setting bumped even a degree can stop the call for heat. Check your breaker panel next, since a tripped breaker will cut power to the furnace even though the thermostat display still lights up. If those are fine, the furnace may be locked out from a failed ignition attempt, and it will need a contractor to find out why.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- In most cases the furnace is running the fan but the burners haven't lit. Check the thermostat fan setting. If it's set to "on" instead of "auto", the blower runs constantly and pushes air that isn't being heated in between heating cycles. If the fan is on auto and you're still getting cold air, the igniter or flame sensor is likely failing, and that's a repair for a contractor, not something to test yourself.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- This usually means the thermocouple has worn out. That's the small sensor that sits in the pilot flame and tells the gas valve it's safe to stay open. When it fails, the valve shuts the gas off within seconds of the pilot lighting, even though the flame looks fine. A draft blowing out the pilot is possible too, but if you're relighting it more than once, the thermocouple is the more likely cause and a contractor can replace it.