Furnace Repair in Racine, WI
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Racine County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Racine County asks a lot of a furnace
Your furnace runs from October through May here, eight months of the year. On the coldest nights, when the temperature outside drops to 17°F, it cycles on and off all night just to hold the house steady. Every one of those cycles puts a load on the igniter and the burner. That is what tends to fail first, and it shows up as a furnace that clicks or hums but never catches.
Racine County has seen 23 winter storms and 48 damaging wind events over the past ten years. Storms like that knock out power, and in 2024, 18% of Wisconsin households lost power for 24 hours or more. Most homes here heat with gas, and a gas furnace still needs electricity to run its blower and controls. When the power drops on a night that cold, the heat drops with it.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 17°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 76%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 23 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 Racine County home.
Estimates for a typical Racine 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 the business on file with the Department of Safety and Professional Services. Nobody tests the contractor's furnace work to get on that list. The state is recording that the business exists, not vouching for the repair itself. Counties and cities can't layer their own HVAC license on top of that, so a contractor registered in Wisconsin is held to the same standard in Racine County as anywhere else in the state.
Gas is the part of a furnace repair that punishes a bad connection, and here that isn't checked by a license, because there isn't one to hold accountable. What stands behind the work is the registration itself and whatever the contractor's own track record shows. In Racine County, 75.6% of homes heat with gas, which is the fuel this registration rule leaves unchecked.
Sources: Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau · Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Start with the thermostat and the power to the furnace. Check that it's set to heat and a few degrees above room temperature, then check the breaker and the switch that looks like a light switch near the unit itself. If those are fine, the igniter may have failed, the flame sensor may be too dirty to detect a flame, or a safety switch may be open. With heat needed here from October through May, a furnace that won't start is worth having looked at quickly rather than waiting it out.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- Most often this means the blower is running but the burners haven't lit. That can happen if the igniter is weak, the flame sensor is coated with residue, or the gas valve isn't opening. It can also just be the blower running for a few seconds at the start of a cycle before the heat exchanger warms up, which is normal. If cold air keeps coming for more than a minute, or comes and goes, a contractor needs to check the ignition system.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- This usually points to the thermocouple, the small sensor that tells the gas valve a flame is present. When it wears out or sits out of position, it can't confirm the flame and the valve shuts the gas off, even though the pilot lit for a moment. A draft blowing across the pilot or a dirty pilot orifice can cause the same thing. A contractor can tell you whether the thermocouple needs replacing or something else is at play.