Furnace Repair in Bardstown, KY
Furnaces here run from October through April. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Nelson County will get in touch.
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Seven months of heat, and nights near 27°F
Your furnace works from October through April in Bardstown, seven months of the year. On the nights that average 27°F through December through February, it runs longer stretches to hold the house steady, and the burner cycles on and off many times over the night. Each cycle puts a small load on the igniter and the parts that get the burner lit. Over years of winters like that, the igniter is often what finally gives out, and the furnace either won't light or shuts off before the house warms up.
Most homes here heat with electricity, so a furnace that runs on electric ignition or an electric blower depends on the power staying on. Kentucky has seen storms knock out power to homes for a day or more, and an outage like that can leave a furnace dark even when nothing inside it is broken.
- 7 months
- October through April, your furnace is on duty
- 27°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 15 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Kentucky requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The license comes from the state's Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction, and it belongs to the contractor, not to any one job. That means the same license has to cover the furnace repair at your house as it would any other HVAC work that contractor takes on.
For gas furnace work, that license is what stands behind the person making the connection, since a bad gas connection is the dangerous part of the job. In Kentucky, that contractor's license is the record a homeowner has to go on for this repair.
Sources: Kentucky Legislative Research Commission · Kentucky Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. Check that it's set to heat and the temperature is set above the room temperature, and check the batteries if it has any. If the thermostat looks fine, check the breaker for the furnace, since a tripped breaker will shut the whole system down. Furnaces also won't start if the air filter is too dirty, since the system senses poor airflow and stops rather than overheat. If none of that fixes it, the igniter or a safety switch inside the unit may have failed, and that needs a licensed contractor to diagnose.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- Most often this means the furnace is running the blower but the burners haven't lit. Check the thermostat is calling for heat and not just fan mode, since fan mode blows air without heating it. If the thermostat looks right, the igniter or flame sensor may be failing, keeping the burners from lighting even though the blower keeps running. This is worth having a contractor look at soon, since a furnace here needs to work through the cold nights from October to April.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- This usually points to the thermocouple, the small part that senses the pilot flame and keeps gas flowing to it. When it wears out or sits out of position, it tells the system the pilot is out even when it isn't, and the gas shuts off. A draft blowing across the pilot can also cause this, so check nearby vents or a door that might be pushing air toward it. If the pilot won't hold after you relight it a couple of times, the thermocouple likely needs replacing, and that's a job for a licensed contractor.