Furnace Repair in Janesville, WI
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Rock County will get in touch.
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Eight months of heat puts real wear on your furnace
Your furnace in Janesville works from October through May, with winter nights averaging 16°F from December through February. That kind of cold means long, frequent burner cycles, night after night, and every cycle puts wear on the igniter and the parts that get the flame going. When one of those parts finally gives out, the burner won't light at all, and you notice because the house stops warming up.
Most furnaces here run on gas, so a lot depends on steady power to run the igniter, the blower and the controls. Rock County sees real winter storms, seventeen of them over the past ten years, along with plenty of damaging wind. When the power goes out in weather like this, your furnace goes with it until it comes back on.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 16°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 70%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 17 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace would cut about $100 a year off heating for a typical Rock County home.
Estimates for a typical Rock 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.
Registration puts a contractor's business on file with the Department of Safety and Professional Services. Nobody tested their gas work to get that number, and the state does not check their repairs afterward. It tells you the business is on record, not that the work meets a standard. In Wisconsin, counties and cities cannot layer on their own HVAC license, so this registration is the only state record that exists on a contractor anywhere in Rock County.
On a furnace repair, the part that matters is the gas connection. A bad one is what makes the job dangerous, and registration does not touch that. Wisconsin's rule does not name anything else that checks a furnace repair once it is done. With 70.2% of homes in Rock County heating with gas, that gap is worth knowing before the work starts, not after.
Sources: Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau · Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Most often the thermostat isn't calling for heat the way it should, or power isn't reaching the furnace. Check that the thermostat is set below room temperature and has fresh batteries if it uses them. Next check the furnace switch, which looks like a regular light switch near the unit, and the breaker at your panel. If those are fine, the igniter or the flame sensor may have failed, and that's a job for a licensed contractor to check.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- If air is running but it's not warm, the furnace may be stuck on the fan setting rather than heat. Check the thermostat is set to "heat" and not just "fan on". If it's set right and still blowing cold, the igniter may not be lighting the burners, or the flame sensor is shutting the burners off right after they start. Either one needs a contractor to diagnose, since running a furnace with a bad ignition system for long isn't safe.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- A pilot that won't stay lit is almost always the thermocouple, the small sensor that tells the gas valve the flame is real. When it wears out, it stops sending that signal and the gas valve shuts off even though the pilot lit fine a moment ago. A draft blowing out the flame is possible too, so check for anything unusual around the furnace first. If the thermocouple is the problem, it's a straightforward part for a licensed contractor to replace.