Furnace Repair in Hot Springs, SD
Furnaces here run from September through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Fall River County will get in touch.
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Nine months of heat puts real wear on your furnace
Your furnace in Fall River County runs from September through May, nine months of the year. On winter nights that average 14°F, it cycles on and off for hours to keep the house warm, and every cycle puts wear on the igniter and the flame sensor.
When one of those parts finally gives out, you notice fast. The blower runs but no heat comes out, or the furnace tries to start and shuts back down. The county has logged 59 winter storms over the last ten years, and a furnace that quits during one of them is not something you can wait out.
- 9 months
- September through May, your furnace is on duty
- 14°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 59 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
In South Dakota, HVAC licensing for homes is left to the cities and towns.
Fall River County does not license HVAC contractors itself. Whether any license applies to this repair depends on the city or town the house sits in, since South Dakota leaves that decision to local government instead of setting one rule for the whole state. A house inside a town with its own licensing rule falls under that rule. A house outside any town's limits may fall under nothing at all.
For a furnace repair, the gas connection is the part that matters most, since that is where a mistake turns dangerous. Whether anyone checks that connection here depends on the same local rule, not on a state license, because South Dakota does not issue one.
Source: South Dakota Legislature
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Most often the thermostat is calling for heat but the furnace isn't getting the signal, or it's getting power but failing a safety check partway through startup. A dead thermostat battery, a tripped breaker, or a switch on the furnace itself that got bumped off can all cause this. Some furnaces also have a safety switch on the door panel, so a panel that isn't seated right will stop it from firing. With winter lows here averaging 14°F, this is worth having looked at the same day rather than waiting.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- If air is moving but it's not warm, the burners likely aren't lighting even though the blower is running. That can come from a dirty flame sensor, a clogged filter starving the system of airflow, or a fuel supply problem. It can also mean the thermostat fan setting is on "on" instead of "auto", which circulates room-temperature air between heating cycles. A contractor can check the flame sensor and filter first, since those are the most common causes.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- A pilot light that won't stay lit is usually a sign the thermocouple has worn out or isn't positioned in the flame correctly. The thermocouple's job is to sense the pilot flame and keep the gas valve open. When it fails, the valve shuts the gas off as a safety measure, so the flame goes out. A draft blowing across the pilot or a dirty pilot orifice can cause the same thing, so a contractor will want to check those along with the thermocouple before replacing anything.