Furnace Repair in Broken Bow, NE
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Custer County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eight months of heat, on nights that drop to 15 degrees
Your furnace works from October through May here. On winter nights averaging 15°F, it runs long and often, cycling on again and again to hold the house steady. That kind of demand wears on the igniter and the blower motor faster than a mild winter would.
Custer County has seen 23 winter storms and 129 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and a quarter of Nebraska households lost power for at least 24 hours in 2024. A furnace that relies on electricity to run, even a gas one, goes down when the power does. When it comes back on, that's often when a weak part finally fails and the house doesn't warm back up.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 15°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 23 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Nebraska requires contractors to register with the state.
Registration puts the business on file with the Department of Labor. Nobody tested the contractor's gas or furnace knowledge to get that number, and the state isn't vouching for the work. It just means the business is on record and can be traced if something goes wrong.
Since Nebraska isn't testing furnace contractors, the registration is the only state record behind whoever comes to look at your furnace. Gas work is the part that matters most here, because a bad connection is the dangerous part of the job. What you have is a name on file with the state, nothing more.
Source: Nebraska Legislature
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- The most common cause is a thermostat set wrong or a tripped breaker, so check those first. If power is reaching the unit, the problem is often a safety switch that has shut the furnace down, like a flame sensor or a limit switch, and those need a contractor to diagnose. With winter nights here averaging 15°F, a furnace that won't start is not something to leave overnight. A contractor can test the switches and tell you what part failed.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- Cold air from the vents usually means the burners aren't lighting even though the blower is running. That can come from a bad igniter, a dirty flame sensor, or no gas reaching the burners. It can also mean the thermostat fan is set to "on" instead of "auto", which runs the blower even when the furnace isn't heating. A contractor can check the ignition system and confirm which one it is.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- A pilot light that won't stay lit is almost always a worn thermocouple, the small sensor that tells the gas valve the flame is burning. When it wears out, it shuts the gas off even though the pilot is lit. A draft blowing across the pilot or a dirty pilot assembly can cause the same problem. This isn't something to keep relighting on your own since gas is involved, so it's worth having a contractor look at the thermocouple and the assembly around it.