Furnace Repair in Fort Collins, CO
Furnaces here run from September through June. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Larimer County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Ten months of heat puts real wear on your furnace
Your furnace runs from September through June here. On winter nights averaging 15°F, it cycles on and off for hours at a stretch to hold the house at temperature. Each cycle puts a little more wear on the igniter and the flame sensor, and those are usually the first parts to fail. When they do, the furnace either won't light or shuts off soon after it does.
Most homes here heat with gas, so when the power goes out, the furnace goes down with it even if the gas is still on. Larimer County has logged 97 winter storms and 102 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and outages come with that kind of weather. If your furnace stopped working during a storm, the problem may be the power, not the furnace itself.
- 10 months
- September through June, your furnace is on duty
- 15°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 69%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 97 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace would cut about $130 a year off heating for a typical Larimer County home.
Estimates for a typical Larimer 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?
- Most often the thermostat is not calling for heat the way you think it is, or power isn't reaching the furnace. Check that the thermostat is set to heat and the temperature is above room temperature, and check the breaker and the furnace's own power switch, which looks like a light switch near the unit. If those are fine, the igniter or the flame sensor may have failed, and a furnace won't run without either one working. A gas furnace also needs the pilot or igniter to prove flame before the burners stay on, so a failure there will shut it down every time.
- 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. The blower and the burners are controlled separately, so the fan can push air through the vents while the flame side stays off. A dirty flame sensor, a bad igniter, or a closed gas valve can all cause this. It can also mean the furnace is in its startup cycle, since some models run the blower for a few seconds before the burners fire, but cold air that continues past that point means the heating side isn't working.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- A pilot that won't stay lit is almost always a worn thermocouple, the small sensor that tells the gas valve a flame is present. When that sensor fails or gets out of position, the valve shuts the gas off as a safety measure even though the pilot lit for a moment. A draft blowing across the pilot or a dirty pilot opening can also cause this. A standing pilot doesn't use electricity, so this problem shows up the same way whether the power is on or off, which rules out a power issue as the cause.