Furnace Repair in Woodbury, MN
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Washington County will get in touch.
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Eight months of heat, and nights near 10 below
Your furnace works from October through May here, eight months of the year. On the coldest nights, when the temperature outside drops to an average of 10°F, it runs longer and cycles more to keep up. That is eight months of burners lighting, blowers pushing, and parts heating and cooling again.
Most homes in Woodbury heat with gas, so the furnace is the one thing standing between the house and the cold outside. Washington County has seen 34 winter storms and 26 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and storms like that knock out power along with the heat. When the power drops, so does the furnace, even if nothing inside it is broken. When it comes back on, a furnace that was already struggling can fail to relight or fail to run right, and that is when most people find out something inside it wore out.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 10°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 80%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 34 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace would cut about $120 a year off heating for a typical Washington County home.
Estimates for a typical Washington County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Minnesota fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Repair makes sense when one part has failed and the heat exchanger is sound.
Replacement makes sense when the heat exchanger is cracked or the furnace keeps needing parts.
Minnesota has no state license for HVAC contractors.
There is no state license and no state registration behind the contractor who comes to your door in Washington County. Minnesota does not test HVAC contractors or keep a state record of who is qualified to touch a furnace. That is not true everywhere, but it is true here, so whatever confidence you have in the person doing the work has to come from somewhere other than a state credential.
For a furnace repair, the part that matters most is the gas connection, since a bad one is what makes the job dangerous rather than just ineffective. Minnesota has no state inspection tied to that repair. Most homes in Washington County heat with gas, 79.6 percent of them, so this is the ordinary job here, not a rare one, and the checking that happens on it is whatever the contractor's own training and habits provide, not a state requirement.
Source: Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Most often the thermostat isn't calling for heat, or the furnace isn't getting power. 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 for the furnace. If those are fine, the igniter or a safety switch may have failed, and that calls for a contractor to test 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. That points to an ignition problem or a safety switch shutting off the burners while the fan keeps going. It can also mean the thermostat fan setting is on "on" instead of "auto", which pushes air through even when the furnace isn't heating. With lows around 10°F through the winter here, cold air from the vents needs a same-day look from a contractor.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- A pilot that won't stay lit is usually a worn thermocouple, the small sensor that tells the gas valve the flame is burning. When it wears out, it reads no flame even when there is one, and it shuts the gas off. A draft blowing out the pilot or a dirty pilot opening can cause the same thing. This is a gas part, so have a contractor check it rather than trying to relight it repeatedly.