Furnace Repair in Warren, OH
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Trumbull County will get in touch.
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It takes about a minute.
Eight months of heat, and nights near 21°F
Warren asks a lot of a furnace. Heat runs from October through May, and on the coldest nights it is holding the line against lows around 21°F. That means long stretches where the burner is cycling on and off for hours at a time, night after night.
All that cycling wears on the parts that start the flame. An igniter or flame sensor that has done its job for years finally gives out, and the furnace either won't light or shuts down partway through a cycle. With most homes here heating on gas, that failure shows up fast, usually as a house that won't warm up no matter how the thermostat is set.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 21°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 80%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 9 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 Trumbull County home.
Estimates for a typical Trumbull 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.
Trumbull County sets its own rule for who can do this work, since Ohio leaves HVAC licensing to the counties instead of handling it at the state level. There's no statewide test or state record to check here. What Ohio does say is that a home contractor has to carry at least $250,000 in liability insurance to meet the state's definition of one. That's a coverage requirement, not a credential, and it doesn't mean anyone tested the contractor's work.
For a furnace repair, the part that matters most is the gas connection, since that's where a mistake turns dangerous. Whether that gets checked on this job depends on Trumbull County's own rules, since the state has not set one. Almost 8 in 10 homes in the county heat with gas, which is what makes that connection the part worth getting right.
Source: Ohio Legislative Service Commission
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. Check that it is set to heat and the set temperature is above room temperature, and check the batteries if it uses them. If the thermostat looks right, check your breaker panel, since a tripped breaker will shut the furnace down completely. When those check out and it still won't start, the problem is likely the igniter, a safety switch, or the flame sensor, and a contractor will need to test which one it is.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- Most often this means the blower is running before the burners have lit or after they've shut off, which is normal for short bursts but not if it lasts. If cold air keeps coming, the igniter or flame sensor may be failing to light the burners at all, so the blower runs with nothing heating the air behind it. A dirty flame sensor is a common cause and a contractor can clean or replace it. Check your air filter too, since a clogged one can cause related problems, though it won't cause this specific symptom on its own.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- This usually comes down to the thermocouple, the small part that senses the pilot flame and tells the gas valve to stay open. When it wears out or sits out of position, it reads the flame as out even when it's lit, and the valve shuts the gas off. A draft blowing out the flame is another cause, and worth ruling out before assuming it's the thermocouple. Either way this is a gas part, so have a contractor relight it and check it rather than repeatedly relighting it yourself.