Furnace Repair in Omaha, NE
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Douglas County will get in touch.
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Omaha winters run your furnace hard for eight months straight
From October through May, your furnace is the thing standing between you and a house at 17°F. That's the average winter night here from December through February, and it means long burner cycles, night after night, for eight months of the year. The parts that light the burner and move the heat take that wear directly.
Most homes here heat with gas, so it's usually the igniter or the flame sensor that gives out first. When one of those fails, the burner won't light at all, and you'll feel it as cold air coming through the vents instead of warm. Power matters too. About a quarter of Nebraska households went at least 24 hours without power in 2024, and most furnaces won't restart on their own once the power comes back. If yours stays cold after an outage, that's often why.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 17°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 72%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 19 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace would cut about $100 a year off heating for a typical Douglas County home.
Estimates for a typical Douglas County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Nebraska 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.
Nebraska requires contractors to register with the state.
Registration puts a business on file with the Nebraska Department of Labor. It confirms the business exists under that name and address. It does not mean anyone tested the contractor's gas or furnace work, because Nebraska does not test for that.
With 72% of Douglas County homes heating with gas, the gas connection is the part of a furnace repair that matters most. Registration does not check that connection, and the facts here do not name anything else that does.
Source: Nebraska Legislature
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- The most common reason is the thermostat isn't calling for heat, the power supply is interrupted, or a safety switch has shut the furnace down. Check that the thermostat is set above room temperature and has power, and check the breaker. If those are fine, the furnace may have locked out on a safety switch, which happens when something like a clogged filter or a blocked vent trips it. A furnace won't ignore a safety shutdown, so it needs a contractor to find out which switch tripped and why.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- Most of the time this means the blower is running but the burners haven't lit, so air is moving through the ducts without being heated. It can also mean the furnace is in its startup cycle, when the blower sometimes runs a few seconds before the burners fire. If cold air keeps blowing for more than a few minutes, the igniter or the flame sensor is a likely cause, and a contractor will need to check it.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- This is almost always the thermocouple, the small sensor that tells the gas valve a flame is present. When it wears out or sits out of position, it reads no flame even when the pilot is lit, and the gas valve shuts off. A draft blowing out the pilot or a dirty pilot orifice can cause the same thing. A contractor can tell which one it is and replace the part if needed.