Furnace Repair in Velva, ND
Furnaces here run from September through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers McHenry County will get in touch.
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Nine months of Velva winters wear a furnace down
Your furnace works from September through May here. That is nine months a year it has to run, and on the coldest nights it is cycling on and off for hours at a stretch to keep up with lows near 3°F.
All that cycling puts the load on the parts that start the burner. An igniter or a flame sensor that has fired thousands of times over a Velva winter is the kind of thing that finally gives out on the night you need it most, and the house goes cold instead of warming back up.
- 9 months
- September through May, your furnace is on duty
- 3°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 30 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
North Dakota requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
North Dakota licenses HVAC contractors through the Secretary of State. That license belongs to the contractor, not to any single job, and it stays on record there.
This furnace repair falls under a rule of its own. In North Dakota, HVAC work under $4,000 does not need a licensed contractor. Whether the license applies here depends on which side of that line the repair falls on.
Sources: North Dakota Legislative Branch · North Dakota Secretary of State
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Most often the thermostat isn't calling for heat the way it should, or a safety switch has shut the furnace down. Check that the thermostat is set below room temperature and has power, since a dead battery looks like a furnace problem but isn't one. If the switch on the furnace itself or the one on the wall nearby got bumped off, that alone will stop it cold. When those check out and it still won't fire, a contractor needs to look at the ignition system, since with nine months of heating season ahead, a furnace that won't start isn't something to leave alone.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- If air is moving but it's not warm, the burners likely aren't lighting even though the blower is running. That points to the igniter, the flame sensor, or the gas supply to the burners. It can also mean the furnace is in the middle of its startup cycle, when the blower runs briefly before the burners catch, so a few seconds of cool air isn't itself a problem. If the air stays cold past that, with lows around 3°F overnight this time of year, it's worth having a contractor check it before the house cools down.
- 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 and is shutting the gas valve as a safety measure. It can also mean a draft near the pilot or a partly clogged pilot orifice. Relighting it yourself a time or two is fine, but if it keeps going out, the part needs to be replaced rather than relit. A standing pilot itself doesn't depend on electricity, so a power outage won't be the cause, but a bad thermocouple will keep failing until it's fixed.