Furnace Repair in Denver, CO
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Denver County will get in touch.
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Denver winters keep your furnace working long hours
Your furnace runs from October through May here, eight months of the year. On nights that average 19°F through the heart of winter, it cycles on and off for hours at a stretch to keep the house warm. Most Denver homes heat with gas, and every one of those cycles means the igniter has to light the burner again.
That many cycles wears on the parts that start the flame. An igniter that has done its job all winter can fail on one of the coldest nights, and the house goes cold with no warning. Denver County has also logged 32 winter storms and 64 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and the outages that follow can shut a furnace down even when nothing inside it is broken.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 19°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 61%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 32 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace would cut about $90 a year off heating for a typical Denver County home.
Estimates for a typical Denver County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Colorado 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.
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. Check that it's set to heat and the temperature is above room temperature, and check the batteries if it uses them. If the thermostat looks fine, check the furnace switch, the one that looks like a light switch near the unit, and make sure the door panel is seated all the way, since most furnaces won't run with the panel off or loose. If it still won't start, check the breaker. Past that point it could be the igniter, a pressure switch, or the flame sensor, and a contractor will need to test it to know which.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- A furnace blows cold air for a few seconds when it first starts, that's normal, it's clearing the line before the burners light. If it's still cold after a couple minutes, check the filter. A clogged filter can choke off airflow and trip the limit switch, which shuts the burners off but leaves the blower running, so you get cold air moving through the vents. If the filter looks fine, the igniter or the gas valve may not be lighting the burners at all, and that calls for a contractor to check.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- Most furnaces built new now don't use a standing pilot at all, they use an electronic igniter instead, so if yours has one, the problem is likely the igniter or the flame sensor rather than a pilot. If your furnace does have an older standing pilot, a weak or dirty thermocouple is the usual reason it won't stay lit. The thermocouple sits in the pilot flame and tells the gas valve the flame is burning. If it's dirty or worn out, it can't confirm the flame and the valve shuts the gas off. A draft blowing out the pilot is possible too, but that's less common. Either way, this is a gas component and worth having a contractor look at rather than relighting it repeatedly.