Furnace Repair in Oshkosh, WI
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Winnebago County will get in touch.
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Eight months of heat, nights near 13 below freezing
Your furnace in Oshkosh works from October through May. That is eight months of the year it has to fire up and keep firing, night after night, with winter lows that average 13°F. Every one of those cold nights means more cycles, more times the burner has to light and hold, and more wear on the igniter and the burner assembly.
Most furnaces here run on gas, and a furnace that will not light on a night like that leaves a house cold fast. Winnebago County has also seen its share of winter storms and high wind, and when the power goes out, a gas furnace with an electric ignition system will not run until it comes back. If your furnace is short-cycling, blowing cold air, or not turning on at all, those are the parts and the conditions behind it.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 13°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 72%
- 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 $110 a year off heating for a typical Winnebago County home.
Estimates for a typical Winnebago 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 to get on that list, and no exam stands behind the name. Wisconsin also keeps counties and cities from adding their own HVAC license on top, so this registration is the only state record on a furnace contractor anywhere in Winnebago County.
For a furnace repair, the gas connection is the part that matters most, since a bad one is what makes the job dangerous rather than just unfinished. Wisconsin's registration does not test for that skill. In Winnebago County, 71.8 percent of homes heat with gas, so a repair going wrong on the gas side is not a small concern here.
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 is set to heat and set a few degrees above the room temperature, and check its batteries if it has any. If the thermostat looks right, check your breaker panel, since a tripped breaker will shut the furnace down with no other warning. Furnaces also have a switch that looks like a light switch, often near the unit or at the top of the basement stairs, and it can get bumped off. If all of that checks out and the furnace still won't run, a contractor will need to look at the ignition system or the control board.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- Most often the furnace is running the fan but hasn't fired up the burners yet. If you set the thermostat fan to auto instead of on, it should only blow air when it's actually heating. If it's set to auto and you're still getting cold air, the igniter or flame sensor may be failing, and the furnace is running its fan without lighting. A dirty flame sensor is a common cause of this and one a contractor can clean or replace.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- A pilot light that won't stay lit usually points to the thermocouple, the small sensor that tells the gas valve the flame is actually burning. When it wears out or sits out of position, the valve shuts the gas off as a safety measure, even though the pilot itself might relight fine each time. Drafts near the furnace and a dirty pilot orifice can also blow the flame out or keep it from reading properly. Furnaces built this way are older, since most newer ones use electronic ignition instead of a standing pilot, so a contractor working on yours will know which parts apply.