Furnace Repair in Milwaukee, WI
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Milwaukee County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eight months of heat puts a lot of hours on your furnace
Your furnace runs from October through May here. On nights that average 18°F, it is not just holding steady, it is cycling on and off for hours trying to keep up. Each start puts wear on the igniter and the parts that get the burner lit, and that is what tends to give out first.
Wisconsin winters bring real storms, 21 of them over the last ten years, along with 71 damaging wind events in that same stretch. Storms like these knock out power, and 18% of Wisconsin households went at least a full day without it in 2024. Most furnaces come back on by themselves once power returns, so if yours stays cold after the lights come back, something else is wrong.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 18°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 77%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 21 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 Milwaukee County home.
Estimates for a typical Milwaukee 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 Department of Safety and Professional Services. Nobody tested the contractor's furnace work to get that number, and the state doesn't track whether the person in your basement knows a gas connection from a bad one. Wisconsin also keeps counties and cities from layering their own HVAC license on top, so this registration is the only state-level record that exists anywhere in Wisconsin, Milwaukee County included.
Most homes in Milwaukee County heat with gas, and a furnace repair almost always means someone working on a gas connection. That's the part of the job where a mistake is dangerous. The state registration doesn't cover it. Wisconsin's rule stops at putting the business on file.
Sources: Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau · Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. Check that it's set to heat and the temperature is above room temperature, since a setting bumped a degree or two can look like a dead furnace. Next check the power switch on or near the furnace, and the breaker it runs on. If those are fine, the filter may be clogged enough to trip a safety switch, or the pilot or igniter may have failed. A furnace that won't respond to any of this needs a contractor to check it, since going further means opening the cabinet.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- Most often this means the blower is running before the burners have caught up, which is normal for the first minute or so after a cycle starts. If cold air keeps coming the whole time it's running, the igniter or a flame sensor may be failing, so the burners never light and the blower just moves unheated air through the ducts. A clogged filter can also starve the burners of air and cause the same thing. If the air stays cold past that first minute, have a contractor look at it before you run the system again.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- This usually means the thermocouple has worn out and no longer senses the flame well enough to keep the gas valve open. It can also mean a draft is snuffing the pilot, or the pilot orifice is partly clogged and the flame is too weak to hold. Relighting it yourself may work for a night, but if it goes out again the part needs replacing. With lows here averaging 18°F through the winter, a furnace that keeps losing its pilot is worth getting to a contractor quickly rather than relighting it night after night.