Furnace Repair in West Bend, WI
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Washington County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eight months of heat puts real strain on a West Bend furnace
Your furnace has to work from October through May here, eight months of the year. On nights that average 14 degrees, it runs long and often, cycling on and off many times to keep up. Each start is a load on the igniter and the parts that get the burner lit. Over enough winters, that wear catches up, and the furnace either takes longer to light or stops lighting at all.
Washington County has seen 12 winter storms and 54 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and power outages come with that kind of weather. Most furnaces need electricity to run the blower and controls even when the gas is still on, so a storm that knocks out power can knock out your heat at the same time. If your furnace won't start after the lights come back on, that is worth a call, not just a wait and see.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 14°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 69%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 12 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 Washington County home.
Estimates for a typical Washington 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 tested the contractor's gas work to get that number, and the state does not check it either. It just means the business is registered to operate, and Wisconsin does not let Washington County or any city add its own HVAC license on top of that.
So on a furnace repair here, the registration is not what is standing behind the gas connection. That part of the job depends on the technician's own training and, where the work touches the gas line itself, on whatever the local building office inspects. Most homes in Washington County heat with gas, and a loose or bad connection is the dangerous part of a repair like this, so that inspection is the check that actually matters here.
Sources: Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau · Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Most often it's the thermostat not calling for heat, a tripped breaker, or a switch that got bumped off. Check that the thermostat is set below room temperature and has power first. If it's a gas furnace, a safety switch may have shut it down because of a clogged filter or a drain issue on a high-efficiency unit. If the breaker keeps tripping or the furnace still won't start once power and thermostat check out, a contractor needs to look at it.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- Check the thermostat fan setting first. If it's set to 'on' instead of 'auto', the blower runs all the time, even between heating cycles, so you feel room-temperature air rather than warm air. If it's already on 'auto' and you're still getting cold air, the furnace may be failing to ignite, or the flame is going out partway through the cycle. That points to a gas or ignition problem that needs a contractor to diagnose.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- A pilot that won't stay lit usually means the thermocouple has worn out and can no longer sense the flame to keep the gas valve open. It can also mean a draft is blowing the pilot out, or the pilot tube itself is dirty and starving the flame. This isn't something to keep relighting on your own since it involves the gas valve, so have a contractor check it, especially with 8 months of the year here depending on that furnace for heat.