Furnace Repair in North Bennington, VT
Furnaces here run from September through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Bennington County will get in touch.
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Nine months of heat, and nights near 13 below zero
Furnaces in North Bennington run from September through May. That is nine months a year the burner is cycling on and off to keep up, and on winter nights that average 13°F, it runs long and hard to hold the house steady. All those cycles wear on the igniter and the flame sensor, the parts that have to fire and prove a flame every single time.
Most homes here heat with fuel oil, and an oil furnace depends on a clean nozzle and a strong spark to light properly. When either one fails, the burner won't fire and the house starts losing heat fast in weather this cold. Bennington County has also seen its share of winter storms and damaging wind, the kind that knock out power. Most furnaces need electricity to run the blower and controls, so when the power drops in the middle of a cold snap, the heat stops with it until service is restored.
- 9 months
- September through May, your furnace is on duty
- 13°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 42 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Vermont has no state license for HVAC contractors.
Vermont does not keep a state list of approved HVAC contractors, so there is no license number to check and no state exam behind the name on the truck. Anyone can hang a sign and call themselves a furnace repair contractor here, whether they trained for years or a week.
For a furnace repair, that means the state itself is not the thing standing behind the work. Gas furnace repair touches the gas connection and the venting, and a bad seal or a blocked flue is what turns a repair that did not take into something dangerous. Vermont has no state requirement covering who does that work or how it gets checked once it is done.
Source: Vermont Department of Public Safety, Division of Fire Safety
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Most often it's the thermostat, the power supply, or the igniter. Check that the thermostat is set below room temperature and has working batteries, then check the furnace switch and the breaker. If those are fine, the igniter may have failed, or a safety switch is holding the furnace off because of a clogged filter or a blocked vent. With lows near 13°F through the winter here, a furnace that won't start needs attention fast, so a contractor should look at it the same day if you can manage it.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- It's usually one of two things. Either the furnace is running the blower without the burners lit, which points to an ignition problem, or it's warming up and the air just hasn't hit temperature yet, which is normal for the first minute or so. If cold air keeps blowing well after startup, the flame sensor or igniter is likely the cause, and a furnace stuck in that state for long won't keep a home warm through a Vermont winter night.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- This almost always comes down to the thermocouple. That's the small sensor that sits in the pilot flame and tells the gas valve the flame is lit. When it wears out or sits out of position, it shuts the gas off even though the pilot is burning fine. A draft blowing across the pilot or a dirty pilot orifice can also do it. A standing pilot doesn't need power to stay lit, so this isn't a power issue, and it's a straightforward fix for a contractor who works on furnaces with a pilot.