Furnace Repair in Council Bluffs, IA
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Pottawattamie County will get in touch.
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Eight months of heat and cold nights wear on a furnace
Council Bluffs needs heat from October through May. That is eight months of the burner lighting and the blower running, night after night, on lows that average 16°F through December through February.
Each start puts a small strain on the igniter and the flame sensor. Over eight months those parts see thousands of cycles, and one of them eventually fails to light the burner or fails to prove it is lit. The furnace either won't start or shuts itself down partway through the cycle. Pottawattamie County has also seen 16 winter storms and 56 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and storms like that knock out power. Most furnaces need electricity to run even if they burn gas, so when the power drops on a cold night, the heat drops with it.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 16°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 71%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 16 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace would cut about $100 a year off heating for a typical Pottawattamie County home.
Estimates for a typical Pottawattamie 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.
Iowa's license is held by the contractor, not issued job by job, so the same license that qualifies someone to install a furnace also covers a repair call like this one. The Iowa Plumbing and Mechanical Systems Board keeps that record, so there's a state board tracking who holds the license here.
For a furnace repair, the part that matters most is the gas connection. A loose or bad connection there is the dangerous failure in this job. In Pottawattamie County, 70.5 percent of homes heat with gas, so this is the kind of repair call the state's licensing rule exists for.
Sources: Iowa Legislature · Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- The most common reason is a thermostat setting or a tripped breaker, so check both before anything else. If the thermostat calls for heat and the breaker is fine, the furnace may not be getting power to the control board, or a safety switch has shut it down. Many furnaces have a switch that looks like a light switch near the unit, sometimes in a basement or utility closet, and it can get bumped off. If power and settings check out and it still won't start, a contractor needs to look at the control board and the safety switches directly.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- If air is moving but it's not warm, the burners likely aren't igniting even though the blower is running. This can happen if the igniter has failed, the flame sensor is dirty, or the gas valve isn't opening. It can also mean the thermostat fan is set to "on" instead of "auto", which runs the blower between heating cycles and feels like cold air. If the fan setting is right and you're still getting cold air, the furnace needs a contractor to check the ignition system.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- A pilot light that won't stay lit usually points to the thermocouple, the small sensor that tells the gas valve the flame is burning. When it wears out or sits out of position, it shuts the gas off even though the pilot lit fine a moment ago. A draft near the pilot or a partly closed gas valve can cause the same problem. Since this involves the gas supply, a contractor should relight it and fix whatever is causing it to go out rather than relighting it repeatedly on your own.