Furnace Repair in Aberdeen, MD
Furnaces here run from October through April. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Harford County will get in touch.
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Seven months of heat puts real wear on your furnace
From October through April, your furnace is the thing standing between your house and a 26 degree night. That is seven months of the burner lighting, running, and shutting off, over and over, night after night. Each of those cycles puts a little more wear on the igniter and the parts that control the flame.
Harford County has seen 24 winter storms and 329 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and storms like that bring outages. Most furnaces come back on by themselves once power is restored, but a furnace that will not start after the lights come back on is worth a look. If your furnace is short cycling, won't stay lit, or has stopped putting out heat, that is usually a sign one of those parts has finally given out.
- 7 months
- October through April, your furnace is on duty
- 26°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 24 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Maryland requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The state board tests contractors before they get a license, and it keeps a record of who holds one. That record follows the contractor, not the job, so the same license that qualifies someone to install a system is the one that qualifies them to repair your furnace.
For a furnace repair, that license is what stands behind the person working on your gas connection, since a loose or bad connection is the dangerous part of this job. Anyone doing that work in Harford County is required to hold the state license that covers it.
Sources: Maryland General Assembly · Maryland Department of Labor
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Most often the thermostat isn't calling for heat the way it should, or the furnace isn't getting power or gas. Check that the thermostat is set below room temperature and has fresh batteries if it takes them. Next check the furnace switch, which looks like a regular light switch near the unit, and the breaker for it in your panel. If those are fine, the igniter may have failed or the flame sensor may be dirty, and a furnace this old in a Maryland winter can't wait long to get looked at with nights averaging 26°F.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- If air is moving but it's not warm, the furnace may be running the blower without a flame. That happens when the igniter won't light the burners or the flame sensor can't detect the flame once it's lit and shuts the gas back off for safety. It can also mean the burners aren't getting gas at all. A furnace that runs the blower but never fires shouldn't be left overnight through an October to April stretch when the house depends on it.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- A pilot that keeps going out is usually the thermocouple, the small sensor that tells the gas valve a flame is present. Once it wears out or sits out of position, the valve shuts the gas off seconds after you let go of the knob, even though the pilot lit fine. A draft blowing across the pilot or a dirty pilot orifice can cause the same thing. This isn't something to keep relighting through the winter, since a furnace that won't hold its pilot won't hold heat when you need it most.