Furnace Repair in Salisbury, MD
Furnaces here run from October through April. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Wicomico County will get in touch.
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Salisbury asks a lot of a furnace
Your furnace here runs from October through April, seven months of the year. On winter nights that average 29°F, it cycles on and off again and again to hold the house steady, and every start puts wear on the igniter and the parts that get the burner lit. That's usually where trouble shows up first, as a furnace that won't fire or takes several tries before it catches.
Most homes in this area heat with electricity, and Wicomico County sees its share of winter storms and wind. When the power drops, so does your heat, and it stays off until the power and the furnace both come back on.
- 7 months
- October through April, your furnace is on duty
- 29°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 12 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 license comes from the Maryland Board of Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Contractors. It belongs to the contractor, not to any single job, so the same license stands behind every furnace repair they take on, not just this one.
For a furnace repair, that license is what the reader has to go on. A bad gas connection is the dangerous part of the job, and in Maryland it is the contractor's state license that stands behind that work.
Sources: Maryland General Assembly · Maryland Department of Labor
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Most often it's the thermostat not calling for heat, a tripped breaker, or a safety switch that's stopped the furnace from lighting. Check that the thermostat is set below room temperature and has power, then check the breaker panel. Furnaces also have a switch that looks like a light switch near the unit, sometimes it gets bumped off. If power and settings check out, the igniter or a safety sensor may be failing, and that calls for a contractor to test it.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- Check the thermostat fan setting first. If it's set to 'on' instead of 'auto', the blower runs even when the furnace isn't heating, and that feels like cold air. If the setting is right and you're still getting cold air, the furnace may be failing to ignite even though the blower is running, which points to an igniter or gas valve problem a contractor needs to diagnose.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- This usually means the thermocouple has worn out and is no longer sensing the pilot flame correctly, so the gas valve shuts off. A draft blowing out the flame is possible too, but if it happens over and over, it's the thermocouple. Either way this isn't something to keep relighting on your own, since it's part of the system that shuts off gas when something's wrong. A contractor can test and replace the part.