Furnace Repair in Cumberland, MD
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Allegany County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eight months of heat puts real wear on a furnace
Cumberland needs the furnace on from October through May, eight months of the year. On winter nights that average 24°F, the burner is cycling on and off for hours at a stretch to hold the house at temperature. Every one of those starts asks the igniter to do its job again, and igniters wear out from the number of times they fire, not just the years on the unit.
More than half the homes here heat with gas, so when the igniter or the flame sensor finally gives out, there is no backup heat to fall back on. Winter storms are common in this area, and a hard freeze arriving at the same time as a dead furnace turns a repair into an emergency fast.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 24°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 50%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 56 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 Allegany County home.
Estimates for a typical Allegany 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 tests HVACR contractors before granting this license, and the Board of Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Contractors keeps a record of who holds one. The license belongs to the contractor, not to any single job, so the same license that lets someone install a furnace also covers the repair happening in your house.
A furnace repair means working around a gas connection, and that is the part of the job where a mistake matters most. The license is what stands behind the person doing that work, tested and recorded by the state before they were allowed to hold it. In Allegany County, just over half of homes heat with gas, so a license tied to the contractor rather than the job is what a homeowner here is relying on.
Sources: Maryland General Assembly · Maryland Department of Labor
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. If it's set to heat and the temperature is above the room, but the furnace still won't start, the problem is usually the power or gas supply, the igniter, or a safety switch that has tripped. A tripped switch is often the flame sensor or the limit switch shutting the furnace down to protect it. Check that the furnace switch and breaker are on, and that a gas valve wasn't closed for any reason. Past that point it needs a contractor to test the igniter and the safety controls, since running the furnace with a bad safety switch is not safe.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- Most of the time this means the burners aren't lighting even though the blower is running. The blower can start on a delay and push out the air already in the ducts before the furnace has warmed up, so a minute or two of cool air on startup is normal. If the air stays cold, check the thermostat is set to heat and not fan only, since fan only just circulates air without heating it. If the setting is right and the air is still cold after a few minutes, the igniter or the gas valve likely isn't lighting the burners and a contractor needs to look at it.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- This almost always comes down to the thermocouple, the small sensor that tells the gas valve a flame is present. When it wears out or sits out of position, it reads no flame even when one is lit and shuts the gas off. A draft blowing across the pilot can also blow it out, so check nothing is blocking or disturbing that area. If you relight it and it goes out again within a minute or two, the thermocouple needs to be adjusted or replaced by a contractor, since the gas valve won't stay open without it reading a flame.