Furnace Repair in Lexington-Fayette urban county, KY
Furnaces here run from October through April. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Fayette County will get in touch.
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Seven months of heat puts real wear on your furnace
Your furnace works from October through April here, seven months of the year. On winter nights averaging 27°F, it cycles on and off for hours at a stretch to keep the house warm. Every one of those starts puts a load on the igniter and the parts that get the burner lit. Over a winter of nights that cold, that wear adds up, and a weak igniter means the furnace tries to start and fails.
57.3% of homes here heat with electricity, so when the power goes out, the furnace stops with it. In Kentucky, 24% of households lost power for a full day or more in 2024, and this area has logged 14 winter storms and 108 damaging wind events over the past ten years. Most furnaces come back on by themselves once the power returns. If yours does not restart, or it short cycles once it does, that is worth having looked at.
- 7 months
- October through April, your furnace is on duty
- 27°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 14 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 is held by the contractor, not issued job by job, and it comes from the Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction. That license belongs to the business, so it stands behind everything that business does, not just the one job at your house.
For a furnace repair, that contractor license is what stands behind the person working on your gas line and burner assembly. A bad connection there is the dangerous part of the job, and in Kentucky it is the licensed contractor who is accountable for getting it right.
Sources: Kentucky Legislative Research Commission · Kentucky Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- The most common reason is the thermostat isn't calling for heat the way it should, but a few other things can cause it too. Check that the thermostat is set to heat and the setpoint is above room temperature, and check that the breaker for the furnace hasn't tripped. If your furnace uses a standing pilot, the pilot light may have gone out. If power and settings look fine and it still won't start, a licensed contractor can check the igniter, the control board, and the safety switches to find out which one is stopping it.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- Most of the time this means the blower is running but the burners haven't lit. A dirty flame sensor is a common cause, since it shuts the gas off as a safety measure even when everything else works. It can also mean the igniter has failed or the furnace is stuck in fan-only mode at the thermostat. With winter nights here averaging 27°F, a furnace blowing cold air needs attention quickly, and a contractor can tell you which part has failed.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- This usually points to the thermocouple, the small sensor that tells the gas valve the pilot is burning. When it wears out or sits out of position, it reads the flame as out and shuts the gas off even though the pilot is lit. A draft blowing across the pilot or a dirty pilot orifice can cause the same thing. A licensed contractor can test the thermocouple and replace it if it's the cause.