Furnace Repair in Burlington, NC
Furnaces here run from October through April. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Alamance County will get in touch.
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Seven months of heat calls on your furnace hard
October through April, your furnace is what keeps the house livable. Winter nights average 31°F here, so the burner is cycling on and off most of the night, every night, for months. Each start puts wear on the igniter and the flame sensor, and one of those is usually what fails first, either the furnace won't light at all or it lights and then shuts itself back off.
More than half the homes in the area heat with electricity, so when the power goes out, the heat goes with it. Alamance County has seen 8 winter storms and 105 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and statewide, a quarter of households lost power for at least a full day in 2024. If your furnace won't start after an outage, check the power to the unit before anything else. Most furnaces come back on their own once power is restored, so if yours doesn't, that points to a problem worth having looked at.
- 7 months
- October through April, your furnace is on duty
- 31°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 8 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
North Carolina requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The State Board of Examiners of Plumbing, Heating and Fire Sprinkler Contractors tests and licenses HVAC contractors in North Carolina. That license belongs to the contractor, not to any single job, so it covers the person or company you hire rather than being reissued for this particular repair.
For a furnace repair, that license is what backs the work. The contractor doing the work is the one the state tested and put on record, and that record is what stands behind the person coming into your home to work on a gas furnace.
Sources: North Carolina General Assembly · North Carolina State Board of Examiners of Plumbing, Heating and Fire Sprinkler Contractors
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Most often it is the thermostat, the power supply, or a safety switch that has shut the furnace down. Check that the thermostat is set to heat and the temperature is above room temperature, and check the breaker for the furnace. If those are fine, the furnace may have locked out on a safety switch, like the one on the door panel or the one that trips when the filter is too dirty for air to move through. A contractor licensed with the State Board of Examiners of Plumbing, Heating and Fire Sprinkler Contractors can find which safety it is and clear it.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- If air is moving but it is not warm, the burners likely are not lighting even though the blower is running. That can mean the igniter has failed, the flame sensor is dirty, or gas is not reaching the burners. It can also mean the thermostat fan is set to on instead of auto, which runs the blower between heating cycles and feels cold. With winter nights here averaging 31°F, a furnace that will not produce heat needs a contractor out the same day.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- A pilot that keeps going out is usually the thermocouple, the small sensor that tells the gas valve the flame is lit. When it wears out or sits out of position, it reads no flame and shuts the gas off even though the pilot was burning. A draft near the pilot or a partly clogged pilot orifice can cause the same thing. This is a repair for a licensed contractor, since it involves the gas valve.