Furnace Repair in Sterling, IL
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Whiteside County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eight months of Sterling winters wear a furnace down
From October through May your furnace is the thing standing between you and a 17°F night. That is eight months of cycling on and off, lighting the burner again and again to keep up. Most homes in Whiteside County heat with gas, so that burner and the igniter that lights it are doing the real work, night after night, all winter long.
The cold isn't the only thing your furnace has to survive. This area has seen 21 winter storms and 58 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and storms like that knock out power. When the power drops and comes back, your furnace should restart on its own, but a furnace already worn from a long winter is more likely to fail right when you need it most, in the middle of a cold night with the house going quiet.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 17°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 73%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 21 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 Whiteside County home.
Estimates for a typical Whiteside 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.
Whiteside County has no county licensing office standing behind this work. Illinois leaves that decision to individual cities and towns, so whether a furnace repair contractor needs to hold a local license depends on which town the house sits in, and some towns here may not require one at all. There is no state exam behind the work and no state record to check.
What protects a homeowner here comes down to the gas line itself. A furnace repair means a gas connection is opened up and reconnected, and a loose fitting or bad joint is the dangerous part of that job. Whether that connection gets checked depends on the town, not on any state license. With 72.8% of homes in Whiteside County heating with gas, that connection is the part of the job most worth getting right.
Source: Illinois General Assembly
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. Make sure it's set to heat and the set temperature is above 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. A furnace that still won't start after that likely has an ignition problem, a bad flame sensor, or a safety switch keeping it from firing, and that needs a contractor to diagnose.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- If the air feels cold but the furnace is running, give it a few minutes. Furnaces push out cool air at the start of a cycle while the heat exchanger warms up. If the air stays cold the whole time it runs, or never warms up at all, the burners may not be lighting or the gas valve may not be opening, and either one needs a contractor to look at it. Check the thermostat is set to heat and not fan only, since fan only just circulates room air without heating it.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- A pilot that won't stay lit usually means the thermocouple is worn out. That's the small part that senses the flame and tells the gas valve it's safe to keep the gas flowing, and once it fails the furnace shuts the gas off even though the pilot is trying to burn. A draft blowing across the pilot or a dirty pilot orifice can also cause it. Either way this is a gas component, so have a contractor replace the part rather than trying to keep relighting it yourself.