A close-up of a window covered in delicate ice crystal formations along its base, with snowflakes falling and blurred bare trees visible through the frosted glass.

Furnace Repair in Pullman, WA

Furnaces here run from September through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Whitman County will get in touch.

Tell us about the job

It takes about a minute.

Step 1 of 3: Equipment

What kind of equipment?*

An unfinished concrete basement containing a metal HVAC air handler, exposed wooden ceiling joists with sheet-metal ducts, a hanging bare bulb, copper pipes, and stacked cardboard boxes.

Nine months of heat, and what a lost power means for it

Pullman needs a working furnace from September through May, nine months of the year. On winter nights that average 27°F, it is running for hours at a stretch to keep the house warm.

56.9% of homes here heat with electricity, and Whitman County has recorded 58 winter storms and 27 damaging wind events over the past ten years. When the power goes out, an electric furnace stops with it. In 2024, 23% of Washington households went at least 24 hours without power. A furnace that comes back on after an outage does not always come back on clean.

9 months: September through May, your furnace is on duty
27°F: the average winter night it heats against
58 winter storms: in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most

Isometric grayscale illustration of a cutaway single-story house showing interior rooms with furniture, plus an exterior furnace unit with a tall flue pipe and ducting running into the attic space.

Your furnace works hardest from November through April.

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals

Washington requires contractors to register with the state.

That registration puts the business on file with the Department of Labor and Industries. It does not mean anyone tested the contractor's furnace knowledge or checked their repair work. There is no trade exam behind it and no state license number tied to proven skill, just a record that the business exists.

For a furnace repair, the part that matters most is the gas connection, and Washington's registration does not test anyone on that. The state record confirms the business is on file. It says nothing about whether the person working on your furnace knows gas work.

Source: Washington State Legislature

Why won't my furnace turn on?: Most often the thermostat isn't calling for heat the way you think, or power isn't reaching the furnace. Check that the thermostat is set above room temperature and has fresh batteries if it uses them. Next check the furnace switch, which looks like a light switch near the unit, and the breaker at your panel. If those are fine, the igniter or a safety switch inside the furnace may be at fault, and that calls for a contractor to check it.
Why is my furnace blowing cold air?: If air is moving but it's not warm, the furnace may be running the blower without the burners lighting. A dirty flame sensor is a common cause of this, since it shuts the burners off as a safety measure even though the fan keeps going. It can also mean the thermostat fan setting is on rather than auto, which runs the blower with no heat behind it. If the setting is right and cold air keeps coming, a contractor will need to check the burners and sensor directly.
Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?: This usually means the thermocouple isn't sensing the flame and is shutting the gas off as it should. It can also mean a draft near the pilot is blowing it out, or the pilot orifice is partly clogged. Relighting it yourself may work for a night, but if it keeps going out the thermocouple likely needs replacing. With winter lows here averaging 27°F, a furnace that won't hold a pilot is worth getting a contractor to look at soon rather than relighting it night after night.

Find a contractor