Furnace Repair in Calais, ME
Furnaces here run from September 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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Nine months of heat, and nights near 14 below zero
Your furnace in Calais runs September through May. That is nine months of the year it has to work, and on winter nights that average 14°F, it runs long and hard to keep up. Most homes here burn fuel oil, and that means an oil furnace cycling through the coldest stretch of the year without much of a break.
All that runtime wears on the parts that start the burner and keep it running. The igniter and the flame sensor take the brunt of it, since they fire and check the flame every cycle, all winter. When one of them gives out, the furnace either won't start or shuts itself off partway through a cycle, and you notice because the house stops warming up the way it should.
- 9 months
- September through May, your furnace is on duty
- 14°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 128 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Most often the thermostat isn't calling for heat, or a safety switch has shut the furnace down. Check that the thermostat is set to heat and the temperature is above room temperature, and check the furnace's power switch and breaker. A dirty filter can trigger the limit switch to shut the burner off, so check that too. If the switches and thermostat look right and it still won't fire, a contractor will need to check the igniter and the flame sensor.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- If air is moving but it's not warm, the burner likely isn't lighting even though the blower is running. A cracked igniter or a dirty flame sensor will stop the burner from staying lit, and the blower keeps running on its own schedule regardless. It can also mean the filter is clogged enough that the furnace overheated and shut the burner down for safety while the fan finishes its cycle. With winter lows here averaging 14°F, this isn't one to wait out, so have a contractor look at it soon.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- A pilot that won't stay lit is almost always the thermocouple, the small sensor that tells the gas valve the flame is real. When it wears out or sits out of position, it reads no flame and shuts the gas off even though the pilot is burning. Drafts can also blow the pilot out, so check for a vent or door pulling air near the furnace. A standing pilot burns on its own and isn't affected by a power outage, so if it won't relight, the thermocouple or the gas valve needs a contractor's attention.