HVAC Repair in Centralia, WA
If your system quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Lewis County will get in touch.
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Ten months of heating a year wears a furnace down
Centralia barely gets a break. Heat runs from September through June, and on winter nights averaging 31°F the furnace cycles on and off for hours at a stretch. That is ten months of burners lighting and igniters heating up and cooling back down, and each cycle is one more chance for a worn igniter or a failing blower motor to quit. Most of this county heats with electric furnaces or heat pumps, so when the system falters, there is no backup burner keeping the house warm while you wait.
Summer asks almost nothing of the system here. Afternoons average 72°F, mild enough that cooling barely factors in. The strain runs one direction, into the heat, ten months of the year.
- 10 months
- September through June, your system heats
- 31°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 72°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
Washington requires contractors to register with the state.
The registration puts the business on file with the Department of Labor and Industries. There is no trade exam behind it, so it tells you the business is on record, not that the state tested anyone's knowledge of heating and cooling work.
For a repair on your system, that record is what Washington offers. There is no license standing behind the person doing the work, and no state exam they had to pass to get to your door. The registration is what exists here, and it is a business filing, not a judgment on whether they do the job right.
Source: Washington State Legislature
- Why is my heat not working?
- Start with the thermostat and the power to the furnace. If the display is dark, check the breaker and any switch that looks like a light switch near the furnace, that's the power to the unit. If it has power but won't fire, the igniter is a common failure, it wears out with use and doesn't glow the way a pilot light did. With winter nights here averaging 31°F, a furnace that won't hold a flame needs a contractor out soon rather than waited on.
- Why is my system running but not cooling the house?
- Check the air filter first. A filter clogged with dust blocks airflow across the coil, and when there isn't enough air moving past it, the coil can ice over and stop cooling the air at all. If the filter is clean and the vents are blowing but the air isn't cold, the system likely needs a contractor to check the refrigerant charge, that's not something to top off yourself.
- What can I check before calling for HVAC repair?
- Check the thermostat batteries and setting first, a dead battery or a setting bumped to the wrong mode causes more no-heat calls than people expect. Next check the breaker box and any power switch near the furnace or air handler. Look at the air filter and replace it if it's gray or packed with dust, restricted airflow causes problems that look like bigger failures than they are. If none of that explains it, tell the contractor what you found, it saves them a step.