Furnace Repair in Davenport, IA
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Scott County will get in touch.
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Eight months of heat puts a strain on the parts that keep it running
Your furnace works from October through May here, with winter nights averaging 17°F from December through February. That means the burner is lighting and shutting off, over and over, for eight months straight. Every one of those cycles wears on the igniter a little more, until one night it can't light the burner at all and the house goes cold.
Scott County also sees its share of winter storms and wind, and most homes here heat with gas. When the power blinks off during a storm, the furnace stops with it, even a gas one, because the blower and controls need electricity to run. It should come back on its own once power returns, but if it does not, that is worth a call.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 17°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 74%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 28 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 Scott County home.
Estimates for a typical Scott 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.
That license comes from the Iowa Plumbing and Mechanical Systems Board, and it belongs to the contractor, not to any single job. It is not something a contractor picks up job by job. It covers the business doing the work, so the same license stands behind every repair that contractor takes on.
For a furnace repair, that license is what stands behind the person working on your gas line and burner. Gas is the part of this job where a loose fitting or bad connection turns dangerous, and in Iowa the licensed contractor is the one accountable for getting that right. In Scott County, 74% of homes heat with gas, so this is the rule that covers the furnace running in most of them.
Sources: Iowa Legislature · Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. Make sure it's set to heat and the set temperature is above room temperature, and check that it has power if it uses batteries. If the thermostat looks fine, check the furnace switch, the one that looks like a light switch near the unit, and make sure it's on. A tripped breaker or a closed gas valve will also keep it from starting, and if the filter is badly clogged some furnaces will shut down rather than run. If none of that brings it back on, the igniter or a safety switch inside the unit may have failed, and that's a job for a licensed contractor to diagnose.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- In most cases the furnace is warming up and the air just hasn't caught up yet, especially if it recently started a cycle. If the air stays cold the whole time it runs, the burners may not be lighting even though the blower is, which points to an ignition problem. A dirty filter can also cause this by starving the burners of the airflow they need to fire properly. With winter lows here averaging 17°F, a furnace that's only blowing cold air needs attention quickly, and a licensed contractor can find out whether it's the igniter, the flame sensor, or something else.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- This usually means the thermocouple, the small sensor that tells the gas valve the pilot is burning, has worn out and needs replacing. A draft blowing across the pilot can also snuff it out, so check that nothing nearby is causing airflow around the flame. Less often, a partly closed gas valve or a dirty pilot orifice is behind it. Since gas heats 74% of homes in Scott County, this is a common call, and a licensed contractor can relight it safely and replace the thermocouple if that's the cause.