Furnace Repair in Ames, IA
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Story County will get in touch.
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Eight months of heat puts a lot of hours on your furnace
In Ames, your furnace runs from October through May. That is eight months of the year it has to work, not just a few cold snaps. On nights that average 14°F, it cycles on and off again and again to hold the house steady, and every cycle puts wear on the igniter and the flame sensor.
Story County has seen 24 winter storms and 82 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and across Iowa, 15% of households lost power for at least 24 hours in 2024. When the power drops mid-winter, a gas furnace, the way most homes here heat, will not restart on its own until power is back and the system is reset. If your furnace has been struggling to keep up or cutting out on the coldest nights, that is the kind of strain showing itself.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 14°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 63%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 24 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace would cut about $110 a year off heating for a typical Story County home.
Estimates for a typical Story County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Iowa 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.
Iowa requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The Iowa Plumbing and Mechanical Systems Board tests contractors before it licenses them, and the license is on record with the state. It covers the contractor, not the individual job, so the same license applies whether the work is a furnace repair or something else in the same trade.
For a furnace repair, that license is what stands behind the person working on your gas line and burner assembly. A bad gas connection is the dangerous part of this job, and in Iowa the licensed contractor is the one accountable for getting it right. Most homes in Story County heat with gas, so this is the rule that applies to the furnace in a typical home here.
Sources: Iowa Legislature · Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Most of the time it's the thermostat, a tripped breaker, or the switch that looks like a light switch near the furnace itself. Check that the switch is on and the breaker hasn't flipped before anything else. If those are fine, the igniter may have failed or the flame sensor may be dirty enough that the furnace shuts itself off as a safety measure. A furnace won't run through a cold spell on a bad igniter, so with winter lows here averaging 14°F, this is worth having a contractor look at quickly.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- Check the thermostat fan setting first. If it's set to "on" instead of "auto", the blower runs constantly and pushes air that isn't being heated between burner cycles. If the setting is right and you're still getting cold air, the burners may not be igniting, or a clogged filter could be starving the system so badly that it overheats and shuts the burners off while the blower keeps running. A dirty filter is worth checking before anything else, since it's the one thing in a furnace meant for a homeowner to handle.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- A pilot that won't stay lit is usually the thermocouple, the small sensor that sits in the pilot flame and tells the gas valve it's safe to stay open. When it wears out or sits slightly out of position, it reads the flame as out even when it isn't, and the valve shuts the gas off. A draft blowing across the pilot or a dirty pilot opening can cause the same thing. This isn't a part to keep relighting on your own with gas involved, so it's worth having a contractor replace the thermocouple or clean the assembly.