Furnace Repair in Pasco, WA
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Franklin County will get in touch.
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Eight months of heat, and the power to run it isn't always there
Pasco needs heat from October through May. That's eight months of the year with winter nights averaging 28°F, which means your furnace is cycling on and off for most of the year, not just a few cold weeks. Every cycle puts wear on the igniter and the parts that get the burner lit.
Most homes in Franklin County heat with electricity, and the furnace depends on that power whether it runs the blower or the whole system. Over the last ten years the area has seen 14 winter storms and 25 damaging wind events, and across Washington almost a quarter of households lost power for 24 hours or more in 2024. When the power drops on a cold night, a furnace that was working fine goes quiet, and you're left waiting on the electricity, not the furnace, to come back.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 28°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 14 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Washington requires contractors to register with the state.
Registration means the contractor's business is on file with the Department of Labor and Industries. Nobody tested their gas or electrical knowledge to get that number, and no trade exam stands behind it. It tells you the business is registered, not that the work will be good.
For a furnace repair, the gas connection is the part that makes the job dangerous if it's done wrong, not just ineffective. Washington's registration doesn't check that. It's a record of who's doing business, not a check on the repair itself.
Source: Washington State Legislature
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Most of the time it comes down to the thermostat, the power supply, or the igniter. Check that the thermostat is set to heat and the temperature is above room temperature first. If the furnace still does nothing, look at the breaker and the furnace switch, sometimes mounted near the unit like a light switch. Power out at least 24 hours in 2024 for 23% of Washington households, so a tripped breaker after an outage is worth checking before anything else. If power and thermostat both check out, the igniter or a safety switch is likely holding it off, and that calls for a contractor to look at 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. A dirty flame sensor or a failed igniter will stop the burners while the fan keeps going, so you feel air but no heat. A clogged filter can also make a furnace shut its burners down as a safety response while the blower keeps pushing air through the ducts. With lows averaging 28°F here in the winter, this is not something to wait out, so it is worth having a contractor check the burners and the filter.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- A pilot light that keeps going out is usually a sign the thermocouple is worn or out of position. The thermocouple senses the pilot flame and holds the gas valve open. When it is not reading the flame correctly, the valve shuts the gas off and the pilot goes out. A draft blowing across the pilot or a dirty pilot orifice can cause the same thing. Since a standing pilot does not run on electricity, if it is going out on its own without any power issue, a contractor will need to check the thermocouple and the pilot assembly.