Furnace Repair in Springfield, OH
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Clark County will get in touch.
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Eight months of heat puts real wear on your furnace
Your furnace in Clark County runs from October through May. That's eight months a year of the burner lighting and shutting off, night after night, to keep up with lows that average 23°F. Every one of those cycles puts a little more wear on the igniter and the flame sensor, the parts that get used the most.
Most homes here heat with gas, so when the furnace won't light, there's no backup warming the house. Storms add another layer to this. Clark County has seen 88 damaging wind events and 7 winter storms over the last ten years, and across Ohio, 18% of households lost power for a day or more in 2024. A furnace that was already struggling to light can fail to start back up once the power comes back on.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 23°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 71%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 7 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 Clark County home.
Estimates for a typical Clark 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.
Whether a contractor needs a license to work on your furnace depends on where in Clark County you live. Ohio does not set a state license itself and leaves that decision to the counties, so there is no single state test or state record to check here. Ohio does define what a home contractor is, and that definition includes carrying at least $250,000 in liability insurance, but that is a description of the business, not a credential anyone earned.
For a furnace repair, that insurance definition means the contractor is supposed to be covered if something goes wrong. It does not mean anyone reviewed their gas work. The gas connection is the part of this job that matters most, since a bad one is what makes a furnace dangerous rather than just broken. In Clark County, 71.4% of homes heat with gas, and whether that connection gets checked depends on whatever your part of the county requires, not on a license.
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. Check that the thermostat is set below room temperature and has fresh batteries if it uses them. Next check the furnace switch, the one that looks like a light switch near the unit, and the breaker for it. If those are fine, the igniter may have failed or the flame sensor may be dirty, and either one will keep the furnace from starting. With eight months of the year here needing heat, it's worth having a contractor look at it soon rather than waiting for the next cold snap.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- If air is moving but it's not warm, the furnace is likely running the blower without a flame. That points to an ignition problem, a dirty flame sensor, or a gas supply issue cutting the burners off after startup. It can also mean the thermostat fan setting is on 'on' instead of 'auto', which just circulates air between heat cycles. A dirty filter can cause the furnace to overheat and shut the burners down as a safety measure while the blower keeps running, so check that first.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- This usually means the thermocouple has worn out. It's the small rod that sits in the pilot flame and tells the gas valve the flame is lit. Once it fails, the valve shuts the gas off as a safety measure even though you just relit it. A draft blowing out the pilot or a dirty pilot orifice can cause the same thing. A standing pilot runs on its own without needing power, so a power outage is not the cause. Either way this is a gas valve issue, so a contractor should be the one relighting and checking it.