Furnace Repair in Watertown, SD
Furnaces here run from September through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Codington County will get in touch.
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Nine months of heat puts real wear on your furnace
In Watertown your furnace works from September through May. On winter nights that average 6°F, it can't just take the edge off. It has to hold that heat for hours at a stretch, night after night, for most of the year.
That kind of run time wears on the parts that start and sustain the flame. Igniters weaken. Flame sensors coat over with residue and stop reading the flame correctly. You notice it as short cycling, a furnace that won't stay lit, or one that stops firing on the coldest night of the week. Codington County has logged 46 winter storms and 63 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and a furnace already worn from long hours has less left to give when a storm pushes the temperature down further.
- 9 months
- September through May, your furnace is on duty
- 6°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 56%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 46 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace would cut about $100 a year off heating for a typical Codington County home.
Estimates for a typical Codington 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.
South Dakota leaves this to the city or town, so whether a furnace repair contractor needs a license depends on where in Codington County the house sits. Some towns require one and keep their own records. Others have no such rule. There is no state list either way, and nothing at the state level tests or tracks who does this work.
For a gas furnace, the part that matters most is the gas connection, since a bad one is what makes the repair dangerous. Whether that connection gets checked by anyone besides the contractor depends on the same local rule as the license does, town by town. In Codington County, 55.7% of homes heat with gas, so this is a repair a lot of local furnaces will need.
Source: South Dakota Legislature
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Most often the thermostat isn't calling for heat the way it should, or power isn't reaching the furnace. Check that the thermostat is set below room temperature and has fresh batteries if it uses them. Next check the furnace switch, the one that looks like a light switch near the unit, and the breaker for it. If those are fine, the igniter or a safety switch inside the furnace may be the problem, and that's a job for a contractor to test.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- If air is running but not heating, the furnace may be blowing before the flame has started, which is normal for a few seconds at the start of a cycle. If cold air keeps coming the whole time it runs, the igniter may not be lighting the burners, or the gas valve isn't opening. With winter lows here averaging 6°F, a furnace that only blows cold air needs a look soon rather than later in the week.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- A pilot that won't stay lit usually means the thermocouple has worn out. That's the small rod that sits in the pilot flame and tells the gas valve the flame is burning. Once it fails, the valve shuts the gas off as a safety measure even though the pilot lit fine. A draft blowing the flame out, or a dirty pilot orifice, can cause the same thing. Since 55.7% of homes here heat with gas, this is a common call for a furnace contractor to check and repair.