Furnace Repair in North Sioux City, SD
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Union County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eight months of heat, nights near 13 below zero
Your furnace works from October through May here. That is most of the year with the burner cycling on and off, and on the coldest nights, when the temperature drops to 13°F, it runs long and hard to keep up.
That kind of demand wears on the parts that start the burner and keep it running. An igniter that has lit the furnace thousands of times over a winter can fail without warning, and you notice when the house stops warming up. Union County has also logged 31 winter storms and 63 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and a hard freeze during one of those storms is exactly when a weak part gives out.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 13°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 51%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 31 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace would cut about $80 a year off heating for a typical Union County home.
Estimates for a typical Union County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, South Dakota 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 South Dakota, HVAC licensing for homes is left to the cities and towns.
Union County is not a city that runs its own HVAC licensing, so there is no license tied to this address. Some South Dakota towns test and license contractors within their limits, but that only applies inside those town lines, and the county itself does not have that system layered on top.
For a furnace repair here, the gas connection is the part that matters most. A furnace burns gas, and a loose or bad connection is the dangerous part of the job. With no state license standing behind the work, there is no state record of who did it or whether they were tested for it. About half the homes in Union County heat with gas, so this is the ordinary furnace call here, not the exception.
Source: South Dakota Legislature
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Most likely the thermostat isn't calling for heat, or power isn't reaching the furnace. Check that the thermostat is set to heat and the temperature is above room temperature. Check the breaker and the furnace's own power switch, which looks like a light switch near the unit. If those are fine, the igniter or the flame sensor may have failed, and that calls for a contractor to check.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- The blower is running before the burners have lit, or the furnace has shut off its burners but the fan is still moving air. A furnace needs a minute or two after startup for the heat exchanger to warm up before the air feels warm. If cold air continues after several minutes, or blows the whole time the furnace runs, the igniter, flame sensor, or gas supply may be the problem, and a contractor should look at it.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- The thermocouple has likely worn out and can no longer sense the flame. Its job is to keep the gas valve open while the pilot burns, and once it fails, the valve shuts the gas off and the flame goes out. A draft blowing across the pilot or a dirty pilot orifice can cause the same thing. Since gas is involved, this is a repair for a licensed contractor, not something to keep relighting on your own.