Furnace Repair in Chester, PA
Furnaces here run from October through April. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Delaware County will get in touch.
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Seven months of heat is hard on a furnace
From October through April your furnace is the thing standing between you and a 27°F night. That is seven months of the burner lighting and shutting off, over and over, every day it runs. Each cycle puts a little more wear on the igniter and the parts that start the burner, and that is usually where trouble shows up first, as a furnace that won't light or one that shuts off partway through the cycle.
Delaware County has also seen 18 winter storms and 166 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and storms like that knock out power. In Pennsylvania, 15% of households lost power for at least 24 hours in 2024. Most furnaces need electricity to run even if they burn gas, so when the power goes out, the heat goes with it, and it should come back on its own once power is restored.
- 7 months
- October through April, your furnace is on duty
- 27°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 60%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 18 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace would cut about $130 a year off heating for a typical Delaware County home.
Estimates for a typical Delaware County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Pennsylvania 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.
Pennsylvania requires contractors to register with the state.
That registration puts the business on file with the state and nothing more. Nobody tests a contractor's furenace work before handing out that record, and there's no state exam standing behind it. Pennsylvania also keeps cities and towns from layering on their own HVAC license, so this registration is the only state-level record you'll find on a contractor anywhere in Delaware County.
So the check on furnace repair here doesn't come from a license, because Pennsylvania doesn't issue one. Gas is the part that matters most on a furnace repair. A bad connection leaks something you can't see or smell, and that risk is what a state license would normally stand behind. In Delaware County, 60.1 percent of homes heat with gas, so that connection is part of most furnace jobs here. The state registration does not cover it.
Source: Pennsylvania General Assembly
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- The thermostat is the first place to check. Make sure it's set to heat and a few degrees above room temperature, and check that it has power if it runs on batteries. If the thermostat looks right, check your breaker panel, since a tripped breaker will shut the furnace down completely. When neither of those explains it, the furnace itself may have a failed part, like the igniter or the flame sensor, and that calls for a contractor to look at it.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- Most often this means the blower is running but the burners haven't lit. A dirty flame sensor is a common cause, since it tells the furnace to shut off the gas if it can't confirm a flame. It can also mean the igniter has failed and never started the burners in the first place. Either way, the furnace needs a contractor to find which part failed and replace it.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- This usually points to the thermocouple, the small sensor that tells the gas valve a flame is present. When it wears out or sits out of position, it reads no flame even when the pilot is lit, and the gas valve shuts off to be safe. A draft blowing across the pilot can cause the same problem, so it's worth checking that first. If the pilot still won't hold once you rule out drafts, the thermocouple likely needs to be replaced by a contractor.