Furnace Repair in Battle Creek, MI
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Calhoun County will get in touch.
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Eight months of heat puts a lot of hours on your furnace
In Battle Creek, your furnace runs from October through May. That is eight months a year the burner is cycling on and off to keep up. On the nights that drop to an average low of 19°F, it runs longer and starts more often just to hold the temperature.
All those starts wear on the igniter first. A furnace that struggles to light, or lights and then shuts off, is usually telling you the igniter or the flame sensor is on its way out. Storms in this area have knocked out power often enough that it is worth knowing your furnace will not restart on its own if the thermostat loses power during an outage. If your heat stops working after the lights flicker, check the thermostat and the breaker before you assume the worst.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 19°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 75%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 13 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace would cut about $140 a year off heating for a typical Calhoun County home.
Estimates for a typical Calhoun County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Michigan 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.
Michigan requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
That license covers the contractor, not each job, so it stays with the business from one repair call to the next rather than being tied to this particular furnace.
For a furnace repair, that license is what stands behind the work. A gas furnace has to be reconnected correctly, since a bad connection there is the dangerous part of the job, and in Michigan it's the contractor's state license that carries that responsibility. In Calhoun County, 74.8% of homes heat with gas, so this is the rule most furnace repairs here fall under.
Sources: Michigan Legislature · Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. Make sure it's set to heat and the temperature is set above the room temperature, and check that it has power or fresh batteries. If the thermostat looks fine, check the furnace switch, the one that looks like a light switch near the unit, and the breaker for the furnace. Many furnaces also won't start if the air filter is badly clogged or if the drain line for the condensate is blocked, since these trip a safety switch on purpose. If none of that brings it back on, a contractor licensed by Michigan's Board of Mechanical Rules can find out which safety switch is stopping it 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. Check that the thermostat fan setting is on auto, not on, since a fan set to run constantly will push out cool air between heating cycles. If the fan is on auto and you're still getting cold air, the igniter or flame sensor may be failing, or the gas valve isn't opening. With winter lows here averaging 19°F, a furnace that won't actually heat needs a contractor out soon rather than waited out.
- 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 shuts the gas off even though the flame is lit. A draft blowing across the pilot or a dirty pilot orifice can also put it out. Relighting it yourself might work for a night, but if it keeps going out, the part needs to be checked and likely replaced by a licensed contractor.