Furnace Repair in Scottsbluff, NE
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Scotts Bluff County will get in touch.
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Eight months of heat and nights near 16 degrees
Your furnace works from October through May here, and on the coldest nights it is fighting to keep up against lows averaging 16°F. That kind of cold means long runtimes and a lot of cycles, and every cycle puts wear on the igniter and the flame sensor. When one of those finally gives out, the burner won't light at all.
Most homes in the area heat with gas, so a lot of that wear falls on the same parts, night after night. The county has also seen 39 winter storms and 144 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and storms like that knock out power. When the power drops, so does your furnace, even if nothing inside it is broken.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 16°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 61%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 39 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 Scotts Bluff County home.
Estimates for a typical Scotts Bluff 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.
That registration puts the business on file with the Department of Labor, nothing more. Nobody tested this contractor on furnace repair or gas lines to get that number, and the state isn't keeping a record of how the work turns out. It tells you the business is on file to operate in Nebraska. It doesn't tell you who is good at the job.
Most homes in Scotts Bluff County heat with gas, and on a furnace repair the gas connection is the part that has to be right. Nebraska's registration doesn't test for that and doesn't cover it. Whatever protection this job carries comes from the person doing the work, not from anything the state checked first.
Source: Nebraska Legislature
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. Check that it's set to heat and the temperature is above room temperature, and that the display isn't dark or dim from dead batteries. If the thermostat looks fine, check the furnace switch, the one that looks like a light switch near the unit, and make sure it's on. A tripped breaker or a filter packed so tight air can't move through it will also stop a furnace from starting. If none of that explains it, the igniter or the control board may have failed, and that's a job for a contractor to test and fix.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- The most common reason is the blower running before the burners have caught, which feels cold for a few seconds but should warm up. If it stays cold, check the thermostat is set to heat and not just fan. A clogged filter can also starve the burners of the airflow they need to fire correctly, so check that next. If the air stays cold after that, the igniter, the gas valve, or the flame sensor may have failed, and a contractor will need to find which one.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- A pilot light that won't stay lit is usually the thermocouple, the small sensor that tells the gas valve the flame is real. When it wears out or sits out of position, it reads no flame even when there is one, and the valve shuts the gas off. A draft blowing across the pilot or a dirty pilot opening can cause the same thing. Relighting it yourself is fine to try once, but if it goes out again, the thermocouple or the valve needs a contractor to replace it.