Furnace Repair in Sanford, ME
Furnaces here run from September through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers York County will get in touch.
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Nine months of heat, and nights near 16°F
Your furnace works from September through May here, nine months of the year. On winter nights averaging 16°F, it runs long and often, and every cycle puts wear on the igniter and the heat exchanger. Most homes in York County heat with fuel oil, and an oil furnace depends on a clean nozzle and a strong ignition to keep burning that cold.
Maine has logged 95 winter storms and 93 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and in 2024 more than half of the state's households lost power for at least 24 hours. When the power drops, your furnace stops with it, and parts already worn by the cold tend to fail right when it comes back on.
- 9 months
- September through May, your furnace is on duty
- 16°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 95 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 power or gas supply is interrupted, or a safety switch has shut the system down. Check that the thermostat is set to heat and the temperature is above room temperature. If the filter is packed with dust, the furnace can sense the airflow problem and refuse to start rather than overheat. With 60.5% of homes here running on fuel oil, an empty tank or a clogged oil filter will also stop the furnace cold, so that's worth checking before anything else.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- If air is moving but it's not warm, the burners may not be lighting even though the blower is running. This can happen if the igniter has failed or the flame sensor can't detect a flame, both of which cause the furnace to shut off the burners as a safety measure while the fan keeps going. A dirty filter can also starve the burners of the airflow they need to stay lit. In the meantime, cold air moving through the house at 16°F average winter lows can feel a lot worse than it would in a milder month, so this isn't something to leave alone overnight.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- A pilot light that won't stay on is usually a sign of a failing thermocouple, the small sensor that tells the gas valve a flame is present. When it wears out or gets out of position, the gas valve shuts off the pilot supply even though the flame was burning fine. A draft near the pilot or a dirty pilot orifice can cause the same thing. A standing pilot doesn't use electricity, so power outages aren't the cause here, but a contractor will need to check the thermocouple and the pilot assembly itself to find out why it keeps going out.