Furnace Repair in Lewiston, ME
Furnaces here run from September through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Androscoggin County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Nine months of heat, and nights near 13 below zero
Your furnace in Lewiston runs from September through May. That is nine months of the burner lighting, running, and shutting off, night after night, through winters where the average low from December through February is 13°F. Cold like that keeps the furnace working longer on every cycle, and every extra hour adds wear to the igniter and the blower motor.
Most homes here still heat with fuel oil. An oil furnace depends on a clean nozzle and a strong igniter to light properly, and cold snaps are when a weak one finally fails. Add in the storms, 45 of them over the last ten years along with 47 damaging wind events, and the power outages that come with them, and you have a furnace that has to restart again and again just to keep up. If yours is struggling to light, short cycling, or not putting out the heat it used to, that is what winter here does to it.
- 9 months
- September through May, your furnace is on duty
- 13°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 45 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 the way it should, or power isn't reaching the furnace. Check that the thermostat is set above room temperature and has fresh batteries if it uses them. Next check the furnace switch, which looks like a light switch near the unit, and the breaker it runs on. With 58.9% of homes here heating with fuel oil, a furnace that won't start can also mean the oil tank is low or the burner needs attention, which is a job for a contractor.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- If air is moving but it's cold, the furnace may be running the blower without the burner lighting. That points to an ignition problem, a clogged filter that's making the furnace overheat and shut off its burner, or a gas or oil supply issue. A dirty filter is worth checking yourself since it's a quick fix. Anything past that, with winter nights here averaging 13°F, needs a contractor to look at it soon rather than wait.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- A pilot light that won't stay lit usually means the thermocouple, the small sensor that tells the furnace the flame is burning, has worn out or is out of position. Dirt or a draft in the pilot area can also blow the flame out. Relighting it yourself may work for a night, but if it keeps going out a contractor needs to replace the part, especially with heat needed here nine months of the year.