Furnace Repair in Pekin, IL
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Tazewell County will get in touch.
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Eight months of heat, and cold nights to match
Furnaces in Pekin run from October through May. That is eight months of the year the burner is cycling on and off to keep up, and on the nights it works hardest, the low outside is around 20°F. Every start puts a little more wear on the igniter and the parts that get the burner lit. When one of those finally gives out, the furnace stops firing and the house goes cold fast.
Tazewell County has also seen its share of winter storms and high wind, ten winter storms and 154 damaging wind events over the past ten years. Storms like that knock out power, and 16% of Illinois households went at least 24 hours without power in 2024. Most furnaces need electricity to run the blower and controls even though the heat source itself is gas, so a power outage on a cold night means no heat until the power and the furnace are both back working.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 20°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 73%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 10 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace would cut about $130 a year off heating for a typical Tazewell County home.
Estimates for a typical Tazewell County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Illinois 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.
In Illinois, HVAC licensing for homes is left to the cities and towns.
Tazewell County does not license HVAC contractors, and neither does the state. Illinois leaves that decision to cities and towns, so whether a contractor needs a local license depends on the specific municipality the house sits in. There is no state exam or state record behind any of it, only whatever the local town has chosen to require, if anything.
For a furnace repair, the part that matters most is the gas connection, since a bad one is what makes the job dangerous. The facts here do not point to any local inspection covering that check, so nothing steps in to take the state license's place on this job. In Tazewell County, 73.2% of homes heat with gas, which is the reason that connection is the detail worth getting right.
Source: Illinois General Assembly
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- The most common cause is the thermostat, so check that it's set to heat and the temperature is above room level. If that's fine, look at your breaker panel, since a tripped breaker will shut the whole system down. Many furnaces also stop for a clogged filter or a switch left open on the furnace door, so make sure the panel is seated all the way. If none of that gets it going, the igniter or a safety switch inside the unit likely needs a contractor to look at it.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- Check the thermostat fan setting first. If it's set to "on" instead of "auto", the blower runs all the time, even between heating cycles, and that feels like cold air. If it's already set to auto, the furnace may be failing to ignite even though the blower still turns on, which points to the igniter or the gas valve. A furnace that's short cycling, turning on and shutting off again quickly, can also blow cool air before it's had time to heat up, and that's worth having a contractor check given how many months a year you'll depend on this furnace here.
- 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 burning. When it wears out or sits out of position, it reads no flame even when one is there and shuts the gas off. A draft blowing across the pilot or a dirty pilot opening can also put it out. Relighting it yourself follows the steps printed on the furnace, but if it goes out again after that, the part needs replacing, and that's a job for a licensed contractor.