Furnace Repair in Mount Vernon, WA
Furnaces here run from September through July. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Skagit County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eleven months of heat wears a furnace down
In Mount Vernon, your furnace only gets a break from heating for about a month a year. The other eleven, including winter nights that average 30°F, it's cycling on and off to keep the house warm. Every start puts a load on the igniter and the parts that get the burner lit.
That kind of use adds up faster than people expect, because there's so little downtime for it to rest. When the igniter starts to go, you'll notice the furnace trying to start and failing, or the house not quite catching up to the thermostat setting.
- 11 months
- September through July, your furnace is on duty
- 30°F
- the average winter night it heats against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Washington requires contractors to register with the state.
Registration puts the business on file with the Department of Labor and Industries. It does not test anyone's knowledge of gas lines or furnace controls, and no exam stands behind the number. What you get is a record that the business exists, not proof the person working on your furnace was ever tested on the trade.
Since Washington isn't testing furnace contractors, nothing at the state level checks the gas connections or the venting on this job. That is the part of a furnace repair where a mistake is dangerous, and here the registration on file is a business record, not a check on that work.
Source: Washington State Legislature
- 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, and check the batteries if it uses them. If the thermostat looks right, check the breaker for the furnace and the switch that looks like a light switch near the unit, sometimes it gets bumped off. Furnaces also won't start if the filter is badly clogged or if the flame sensor is dirty, since both will make the control board shut things down as a safety measure. A contractor can test the ignition system and the safety switches to find which one is stopping it.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- Most of the time this means the blower is running but the burners haven't lit. That points to the igniter, the flame sensor, or the gas valve not getting a signal to open. It can also happen right when the furnace starts a cycle, since air moving before the heat exchanger warms up will feel cool for a short time. If the air stays cold the whole time it runs, something in the ignition sequence needs a contractor to look at it.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- This usually means the thermocouple isn't sensing the flame, so the gas valve shuts back off after you let go of the knob. A draft blowing across the pilot can also blow it out repeatedly. If it relights and holds for a few seconds each time but then dies, the thermocouple is the likely part, and a contractor can test or replace it.