Furnace Repair in Columbia, MD
Furnaces here run from October through April. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Howard County will get in touch.
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Seven months of cold nights wear on a furnace
Your furnace works from October through April here, seven months of the year. Winter nights average 26°F from December through February, so it is running long stretches after dark, cycling on and off to keep up. Each start puts load on the igniter and the parts that get the burner lit. That wear shows up as a furnace that hesitates to start, or one that starts and then quits partway through the night.
Howard County has seen 22 winter storms and 177 damaging wind events over the past ten years. About half of homes here heat with electricity, and statewide, 11% of households lost power for a full day or more in 2024. When the power drops on a cold night, an electric furnace stops until it comes back on, and a house can lose its heat fast.
- 7 months
- October through April, your furnace is on duty
- 26°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 22 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 Maryland Board of Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Contractors tests and licenses the contractor, not the job. That means the person or company doing the work has passed the state's exam and has a record with the board, regardless of what the repair is. The license attaches to the business itself, so it covers every furnace they touch, not just this one.
For a furnace repair, that license is what stands behind the work. Gas furnaces have a burner and a connection to the gas line, and a bad seal there is the real danger in this job. Maryland's licensing is what puts a name and a record behind the person making that connection, so if the work is wrong, there is a license on file to hold accountable for it.
Sources: Maryland General Assembly · Maryland Department of Labor
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Most of the time it's the thermostat, the power supply, or the igniter. Check that the thermostat is set to heat and the temperature is above room temperature, then 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 may have failed, or a safety switch has shut the furnace down because of a clogged filter or a drain issue on a high-efficiency unit. A furnace won't run with a dirty filter blocking airflow, so that's worth checking before anything else. With nights here averaging 26°F in the winter, it's worth getting this looked at quickly rather than waiting.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- If air is moving but it's not warm, the furnace may be running its fan without the burners firing, or the burners may have shut off partway through a cycle. A clogged filter or a failed igniter can both cause this. It's also worth checking the thermostat fan setting. If it's set to "on" instead of "auto", the fan runs constantly, including between heating cycles when the air hasn't been heated yet. A furnace that blows cold air for more than a few seconds at startup usually has a problem worth having a contractor diagnose, since homes here rely on heat for 7 months of the year.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- This usually means the thermocouple has failed or the pilot orifice is dirty, either of which stops the flame from being sensed correctly. It can also happen if there's a draft near the pilot assembly. A standing pilot light doesn't need power to run, which matters here since Maryland households saw real power outage risk last year, with 11% going at least 24 hours without electricity. But a pilot that won't stay lit is still a repair issue, not something to keep relighting on your own. A licensed contractor can test the thermocouple and clean or replace the parts that are stopping it from holding.