Furnace Repair in Fort Thomas, KY
Furnaces here run from October through April. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Campbell County will get in touch.
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Fort Thomas winters put your furnace to work
From October through April, seven months of the year, your furnace is what keeps the house livable. Winter nights average 26°F here, so on the coldest stretches the burner is cycling on and off for hours at a time. Each cycle means another jolt to the igniter and another round of wear on the parts that get it lit. That is usually where trouble shows up first, a furnace that clicks and tries but will not catch.
Campbell County has also seen its share of winter storms and damaging wind, and Kentucky households are no strangers to losing power for a day or more. When the power drops mid-cold-snap, most furnaces come back on their own once it returns. But if yours does not, or if it was already struggling before the outage, that is worth having looked at before the next cold night.
- 7 months
- October through April, your furnace is on duty
- 26°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 13 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 Campbell County home.
Estimates for a typical Campbell County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Kentucky 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.
Kentucky requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
Kentucky licenses HVAC contractors through the Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction. The license is tested and issued to the contractor, not to each job, so the same license covers a furnace repair, a full system install, or anything else the contractor does.
For a furnace repair, that license is what stands behind the person working on your gas line and burner. A bad gas connection is the dangerous part of this job, and in Kentucky the contractor doing that work is required to hold this license. In Campbell County, close to half of homes heat with gas, so this rule covers a repair like the one on this page.
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 room temperature, since a battery running low can reset the settings. If that's fine, check the breaker and the furnace switch, the one that looks like a light switch near the unit. Gas furnaces also won't start if the pilot is out or the igniter has failed, and a clogged filter can trip a safety switch that shuts the whole system down. If you've checked the thermostat, the power, and the filter and it still won't start, a contractor will need to look at the ignition system or the control board.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- If cold air is coming from the vents, the furnace may be running the blower without the burners lighting. That points to an ignition problem, a bad flame sensor, or gas not reaching the burners. It can also happen right when the furnace first kicks on, before the heat exchanger warms up, so a few seconds of cool air isn't unusual. But if it runs like that the whole cycle, especially with nights averaging 26°F here from December through February, don't wait on it. That's a job for a contractor to diagnose.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- This usually comes down to the thermocouple, the small sensor that tells the gas valve the pilot is actually burning. When it wears out or sits out of position, it reads no flame even when one's there, and the valve shuts the gas off. A draft blowing out the pilot is the other common cause, so check that vents and flues near the unit aren't letting outside air hit the flame. If you've reset it following the furnace's instructions and it still won't hold, the thermocouple likely needs replacing, and that's not a repair to attempt yourself since it involves the gas line.