Furnace Repair in Fond du Lac, WI
Furnaces here run from September through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Fond du Lac County will get in touch.
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Nine months of Fond du Lac winter wears a furnace down
Your furnace runs from September through May here, nine months of the year. On winter nights that average 13°F, it cycles on and off for hours at a stretch to hold the house steady, and every cycle puts a small load on the igniter and the blower motor. Over that long a season, the load adds up.
Fond du Lac County has seen 15 winter storms and 59 damaging wind events over the past ten years. Wind like that can push cold air back through the vent, and a power outage stops a gas furnace even with fuel still in the line. Statewide, 18% of households lost power for a full day or more in 2024. If your furnace does not restart once the lights come back on, that is worth a call.
- 9 months
- September through May, your furnace is on duty
- 13°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 66%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 15 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace would cut about $110 a year off heating for a typical Fond du Lac County home.
Estimates for a typical Fond du Lac County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Wisconsin 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.
Wisconsin requires contractors to register with the state.
That registration puts the business on file with the state. Nobody tested the contractor's work to get on that list. Wisconsin doesn't run its own trade exam for HVAC, and no county or city in the state can add a license requirement on top of the registration. So wherever you are in Wisconsin, this is the only state record that exists.
For a furnace repair, the part that matters most is the gas connection, since that's where a mistake turns dangerous. Wisconsin's registration doesn't test anyone on that. Most homes in Fond du Lac County heat with gas, so the furnace being worked on is very likely one of them, and the registration on file is still just a business record, not a check on how the job gets done.
Sources: Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau · Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. If the display is blank or won't respond, check the batteries before anything else. If the thermostat is fine, check your breaker panel and the furnace's own power switch, which looks like a light switch near the unit. Furnaces also have a safety switch on the door panel itself, so a door that's not seated right will keep it from starting at all. If power and the door check out, the igniter or a flame sensor reading dirty could be stopping the cycle before you notice, and that's a job for a contractor to test.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- Most often this means the blower is running but the burners haven't lit, so air is moving without being heated. A clogged filter can cause this too, since it restricts airflow enough that the furnace overheats and shuts the burners off as a safety measure while the fan keeps going. Check the filter first. If it's clean and you're still getting cold air, the igniter or gas valve likely needs a contractor to look at it.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- This usually points to the thermocouple, the small part that senses the pilot flame and tells the gas valve to stay open. When it wears out or sits out of position, the gas valve shuts the pilot off as a safety response even though the flame was fine a second ago. A draft blowing out the pilot is possible too, but if it keeps happening the thermocouple is the more likely cause. Either way it takes a contractor to replace or adjust the part, since it involves the gas line.