Furnace Repair in Bowie, MD
Furnaces here run from October through April. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Prince George's County will get in touch.
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Seven months of heat wears on a Bowie furnace
Your furnace runs from October through April here, and on nights that average 28°F it is cycling on and off most of the night to keep up. Every start puts load on the igniter and the burner. Over a few winters those parts wear down and can fail right when you need heat most.
More than half of Bowie homes heat with gas, so this wear plays out the same way in a lot of furnaces nearby. The area has also seen 10 winter storms and 222 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and outages come with that kind of weather. A furnace already worn from the cold season can shut down and not restart on its own once the power comes back. You will notice it as a furnace that takes longer to light, cycles more than it used to, or runs without the house ever quite warming up.
- 7 months
- October through April, your furnace is on duty
- 28°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 53%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 10 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace would cut about $120 a year off heating for a typical Prince George's County home.
Estimates for a typical Prince George's County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Maryland 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.
Maryland requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
Maryland's Board of Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Contractors is the one that licenses HVAC contractors here, and that license belongs to the contractor, not to any single job. It does not get reissued or checked off each time someone comes out for a repair.
For a furnace repair, that license is what stands behind the person in your house. Gas is the part that makes this job matter. A loose or bad connection at the furnace is the dangerous part of the work, and the license is what the state can act on if that work is done wrong. More than half the homes in Prince George's County heat with gas, so this is not a rare repair here.
Sources: Maryland General Assembly · Maryland Department of Labor
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- The most common reason is the thermostat isn't calling for heat, or the furnace isn't getting power. Check that the thermostat is set to heat and the temperature is above room level. A tripped breaker or a switch near the furnace that got bumped off will also keep it from starting. If power and the thermostat both check out, the igniter or the flame sensor may have failed, and that needs a contractor to test and replace.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- Most often the blower is running before the burners have lit, which is normal for the first minute or so. If cold air keeps coming, the igniter or flame sensor may be failing, so the burners never light and the blower just moves unheated air through the ducts. A dirty filter can also block airflow enough to trip the limit switch and shut the burners off while the fan keeps running. A contractor can check the igniter, the flame sensor and the filter to find which one it is.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- A pilot that won't stay lit is usually a sign the thermocouple has worn out and can no longer sense the flame, so the gas valve shuts it off. A draft near the pilot or a dirty pilot opening can also cause this. Since gas is involved, this isn't something to keep relighting on your own. A licensed contractor can test the thermocouple and the gas valve and replace whichever one is failing.