Furnace repair
Furnace repair in Fort Collins
A furnace that quits on a January night deserves a phone call. A few checks first can save a visit; the rest belongs with a contractor.
Three minutes of checks
- Thermostat set to Heat, with the setpoint a few degrees above the room.
- Fresh batteries, if the thermostat takes them.
- The furnace power switch, often a plain light switch on or near the cabinet, turned on.
- No tripped breaker for the furnace circuit.
- A filter you can still see light through.
Many furnaces have a small window in the lower door with a status light. Count the flashes, write the number down and read it to the contractor. A chart inside the panel door usually explains the pattern.
Faults that come up again and again
A flame sensor coated with residue lets the burners light for a few seconds and then shuts the gas off. Cleaning or replacing it is quick work for a technician.
A hot-surface igniter is brittle and cracks with age. When it fails, the inducer motor runs, nothing lights, and the furnace tries again before locking out.
The small inducer motor and the pressure switch beside it prove the vent is drawing before gas flows. A worn motor, a cracked hose or a blocked vent pipe stops the start-up right there.
On high-efficiency furnaces, a plugged condensate trap backs water into the unit and trips a safety. In a cold spell the drain line can freeze where it runs through an unheated space.
Blower motors and their capacitors wear out too. A furnace that lights but never pushes air will overheat and shut itself down on the high-limit switch.
Smell gas? Leave first
A rotten-egg smell near the furnace is not a repair question. Get out without touching light switches, then call Xcel Energy or 911 from outside. Natural gas in Fort Collins comes from Xcel, not from the city-owned utility, which supplies electricity, water, wastewater and stormwater service.
Sources: Fort Collins Utilities; City of Fort Collins home electrification page (Xcel Energy gas service).
Do repairs need a permit?
Swapping a small part generally does not. The City of Fort Collins lists replacing minor parts among exempt work. A full furnace or air conditioner replacement is a different matter and goes through the City's heating or cooling permit.
Cold house? Make the call.
Describe the symptoms and give your street. A heating and cooling business that covers the Fort Collins area, independent of this website, handles everything after that.