Furnace Repair in Iowa City, IA
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Johnson County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eight months of heat puts real wear on your furnace
Your furnace runs from October through May here, eight months out of the year. On winter nights averaging 16°F, it cycles on and off for hours at a stretch to hold the house steady. Every cycle means another spark at the igniter and another round of metal heating and cooling in the heat exchanger.
Most homes in the area heat with gas, so it's the burner assembly and ignition system doing that work night after night. Johnson County has seen 25 winter storms and 87 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and power interruptions during a cold snap can shut a furnace down right when it's needed most. If yours won't start, won't stay lit, or is putting out air that never quite gets warm, that's the wear catching up with it.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 16°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 63%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 25 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 Johnson County home.
Estimates for a typical Johnson 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 issues that license, and it tested this contractor before handing it out. The license covers the contractor, not each job, so the same one applies to this furnace repair and whatever job comes after it.
A bad gas connection is the dangerous part of furnace work. In Iowa, the license is what stands behind whoever makes that connection, since the state tested them before they were allowed to do this work at all. In Johnson County, 63.3 percent of homes heat with gas, so a furnace like this one is the ordinary case, not the exception.
Sources: Iowa Legislature · Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. Check that it's set to heat and the temperature is above room temperature, and check that the batteries aren't dead. If the thermostat looks fine, check the breaker panel, since a tripped breaker will shut the whole system down. A furnace that still won't start after that likely has a bad igniter, a flame sensor that needs cleaning, or a safety switch holding it off, and those need a licensed contractor to sort out.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- Most of the time this means the burners aren't lighting even though the blower is running. A dirty flame sensor is a common cause, since it can't detect the flame and shuts the gas off for safety. It can also mean the igniter is failing or the gas valve isn't opening. Either way the blower working while the burners don't means the heating side needs a look, not the fan.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- A pilot light that won't stay lit is almost always a thermocouple problem. That's the small sensor that tells the gas valve a flame is present, and once it wears out or sits out of position, the valve shuts the gas off within seconds of you letting go of the knob. A draft blowing across the pilot or a dirty pilot orifice can do the same thing. This is a gas control part, so have a licensed contractor check and replace it rather than relighting it repeatedly.