Furnace Repair in Howell, MI
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Livingston County will get in touch.
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Eight months of winter puts real strain on your furnace
Howell needs heat from October through May, eight months a year. On nights that average 18°F, your furnace runs long stretches just to keep the house warm, and the burner cycles on and off for hours at a time. All that starting and stopping wears on the igniter first. When it goes, the furnace won't light at all.
Most homes here heat with gas, so when the power drops, the furnace stops even though the gas is still on. Winter storms and damaging wind are common enough in this area that outages happen, and across Michigan more than a third of households lost power for at least a day in 2024. A furnace that won't restart after the lights come back on is often waiting on a reset, not a repair.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 18°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 78%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 16 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace would cut about $150 a year off heating for a typical Livingston County home.
Estimates for a typical Livingston 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.
The Board of Mechanical Rules is the one testing and keeping records on that contractor, not the county or the city. The license is tied to the business itself, so it covers the contractor across every job they take on, not this furnace repair specifically.
For a gas furnace, the part that matters most is the gas connection itself, since that is where a mistake turns dangerous. In Michigan, the state license is what stands behind that work being done right, and with most homes in Livingston County heating with gas, it is the same rule protecting nearly every furnace repair in the county.
Sources: Michigan Legislature · Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Most often the thermostat is set wrong, a breaker has tripped, or the switch that looks like a light switch near the furnace has been bumped off. Check those first. If those are fine, the igniter may have failed, or a safety switch is stopping it from starting because it senses something isn't right, like a clogged filter blocking airflow or a drain line backed up on a high-efficiency unit. A contractor can tell you which one it is.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- If air is moving but it's not warm, the furnace may be running its fan without the burners lighting. That points to an ignition problem, a gas supply issue, or a safety switch shutting off the burners while the blower keeps going. It can also just be air still clearing out of the ducts right after startup, which shouldn't last more than a minute or two. If cold air keeps coming for longer than that, have it looked at, especially with nights here averaging 18°F through the winter.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- A pilot that won't stay lit usually means the thermocouple has worn out and is failing to sense that the flame is on, so the gas valve shuts it off. It can also mean a draft is blowing the flame out, or the pilot orifice is partly clogged. This is a common furnace repair and a contractor can test the thermocouple and clean or replace the parts causing it. With homes here needing heat from October through May, it's worth getting fixed rather than relighting it over and over.