Furnace Repair in Muskegon, MI
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Muskegon County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eight months of heat puts a lot of hours on your furnace
Muskegon County needs a working furnace from October through May. On winter nights that average 20°F, the burner is cycling on and off for hours at a time, and every start puts wear on the igniter and the ignition control board. Over eight months that adds up to a lot of cycles, and it's usually the ignition system that gives out first, leaving the house cold and the furnace unresponsive.
Most of the homes here heat with gas, so the pilot or ignition system matters more than it would in a house running on electric heat. And with power outages common enough in Michigan that a third of households lost power for a full day or more last year, a furnace that won't restart on its own after the lights come back on is a real problem, not just an inconvenience.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 20°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 80%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 15 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 Muskegon County home.
Estimates for a typical Muskegon 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 state tests contractors before they can hold this license, and the license belongs to the contractor, not to any single job. That means the person or company working on your furnace has already had to prove they know the trade to the Board of Mechanical Rules, and there is a record of who they are.
For a gas furnace, that matters most at the gas connection, since a poor seal or a bad line is the part of the job that can hurt someone. In Michigan, that is what the state license stands behind here, not a separate inspection tied to this repair. Most homes in Muskegon County heat with gas, so this is the exact repair the license was built to cover.
Sources: Michigan Legislature · Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. If the screen is blank, check the batteries first. If the thermostat has power but the furnace still won't respond, check the breaker and the furnace's own power switch, which looks like a light switch on or near the unit. A closed gas valve or a filter packed so tight the furnace can't pull air through it will also stop it from starting. If those all check out, the problem is likely inside the furnace, in the ignition system or the control board, and that calls for a contractor to open it up and test it.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- Most often the furnace hasn't actually started heating yet. Furnaces run a blower for a short time before the burners fire, and cold air moves through the ducts during that stretch. If the air stays cold well past that point, check your filter. A clogged filter can cause the furnace to overheat and shut its burners off as a safety measure, while the blower keeps running and pushes room-temperature air through the vents. A flame sensor or igniter that's failing can do the same thing. With nights averaging 20°F here from December through February, a furnace that won't hold a flame needs attention quickly.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- The most common cause is a worn thermocouple, the small sensor that sits in the pilot flame and tells the gas valve it's safe to stay open. When it wears out, it can't sense the flame properly and shuts the gas off even though the pilot is lit. A dirty pilot orifice or a draft pulling the flame around can cause the same problem. If you relight it and it goes out again within a minute or two, the thermocouple is the likely cause, and a contractor can test and replace it. Since 79.7% of homes here heat with gas, this is a common call in Muskegon once the weather turns.