Furnace Repair in Stamford, CT
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Stamford will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eight months of heat puts a lot of hours on a furnace
Stamford needs the furnace running from October through May, eight months of the year. On the cold nights in December through February, when it averages 22°F outside, the burner is cycling on and off for hours at a stretch. Every one of those starts puts a little more wear on the igniter and the parts that get the burner lit.
More than a third of homes here heat with fuel oil, and an oil furnace depends on a clean nozzle and a strong spark to fire properly. When either one starts to go, you will notice the burner struggling to catch, or the furnace running longer to reach the same temperature.
Power matters too. A furnace will not run without it, gas or oil. In Connecticut, 20% of households went at least 24 hours without power in 2024. Most furnaces come back on by themselves once power returns. If yours does not, that is worth a call.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 22°F
- the average winter night it heats against
NOAA 1991–2020 monthly normals
Connecticut requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
Connecticut's Department of Consumer Protection tests contractors before it licenses them, then keeps a record of who holds one. The license belongs to the contractor, not to the job, so it does not expire when this repair is finished and it does not need to be renewed for the next one.
For a furnace repair, that license is what stands behind the work. Furnaces burn gas, and a bad connection or a cracked heat exchanger is what makes that dangerous, so the same license that qualifies someone to work on your furnace is what the state holds accountable if the repair is done wrong.
Sources: Connecticut General Assembly · Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- The most common reason is the thermostat isn't calling for heat, either from a dead battery or a setting that got bumped. After that, check if the pilot light or igniter is working, since a furnace won't fire without one. A tripped breaker or a switch on the furnace itself, the one that looks like a light switch, sometimes gets flipped off during cleaning and gets forgotten. If power and thermostat both check out, the problem is likely inside the unit and worth having a licensed contractor look at.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- Most of the time this means the furnace is running the blower but hasn't ignited yet, so cold air moves through the ducts for a minute or two before warm air catches up. If it blows cold the whole time it runs, the igniter or flame sensor may be failing to light the burners at all. A dirty air filter can also starve the burners of the airflow they need. If the air stays cold for more than a few minutes, a licensed contractor can find out why.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- A weak or dirty thermocouple is the usual cause. Its job is to sense the pilot flame and keep the gas valve open, and once it wears out or gets coated in soot, it reads the flame as out even when it isn't, so the valve shuts the gas off. A draft near the pilot or a clogged pilot orifice can cause the same problem. Since gas is involved, this is worth having a licensed contractor check rather than repeatedly relighting it yourself.