Furnace Repair in Steamboat Springs, CO
Furnaces here run from September through June. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Routt County will get in touch.
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Ten months of heat in a town that drops to 11 below
Your furnace in Steamboat Springs works from September through June. That is ten months a year, with only a short stretch in summer when it gets to rest. On winter nights averaging 11°F, it runs long and often, and every cycle puts wear on the igniter and the blower motor.
Routt County has seen 202 winter storms and 47 damaging wind events over the past ten years. Storms like these knock out power, and across Colorado, 13% of households lost power for 24 hours or more in 2024. A furnace that loses power mid-cycle can fail to restart the way it should, and if yours runs on gas, as almost half the homes here do, you may notice the burner won't light again on its own.
- 10 months
- September through June, your furnace is on duty
- 11°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 202 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace would cut about $140 a year off heating for a typical Routt County home.
Estimates for a typical Routt 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. Make sure it is set to heat and the temperature is set above the room temperature, and check that it has power if it runs on batteries. If the thermostat looks fine, check the furnace switch, which looks like a light switch near the unit, and check that the breaker hasn't tripped. A dirty filter can also block enough air that the furnace shuts itself off as a safety measure, so check that next. If none of that brings it on, the igniter, the flame sensor, or the control board may have failed, and a contractor will need to test the unit to find out which.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- Most often this means the blower is running but the burners haven't lit, so air is moving past a heat exchanger that never warmed up. A dirty flame sensor is a common cause of this, since it shuts off gas flow after a few seconds if it doesn't sense a flame. It can also mean the furnace is in the middle of its normal cycle, blowing a few seconds of cool air before the burners fire. If the air stays cold for more than a few minutes, or this keeps happening, the flame sensor or igniter likely needs attention from a contractor.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- This usually comes down to the thermocouple, the small sensor that sits in the pilot flame and tells the gas valve it's safe to keep sending gas. When it wears out or gets coated in soot, it stops sensing the flame correctly and the gas valve shuts off, even though the pilot lit fine a moment ago. A draft blowing across the pilot can cause the same thing, so check whether anything nearby is causing airflow near the unit. If the flame lights and goes out repeatedly, the thermocouple most likely needs to be replaced by a contractor.