Furnace Repair in Flemington, NJ
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Hunterdon County will get in touch.
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Eight months of winter work in Flemington
Your furnace runs from October through May here. That is eight months of the year, and on the coldest nights it is holding the house against lows that average 23°F. The burner cycles on and off all through those nights, and every start puts wear on the igniter and the flame sensor. Sooner or later one of them gives out, and the furnace stops lighting.
Most homes in this area heat with gas. Gas furnaces need power to run the blower and the control board, and Hunterdon County sees real winter storms, twenty of them over the past ten years, along with 154 damaging wind events. Statewide, 11% of households lost power for at least 24 hours in 2024. When the power drops on a cold night, the furnace stops with it, even if nothing inside it is broken.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 23°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 20 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace would cut about $160 a year off heating for a typical Hunterdon County home.
Estimates for a typical Hunterdon County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, New Jersey 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.
New Jersey requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The state board tests contractors before they can hold this license, and it covers the contractor rather than the job itself. Towns and cities in New Jersey cannot add their own license on top of it, so the state board is the only credential that applies here.
For a furnace repair, that license is what stands behind the work. Furnace repair often means opening up a gas connection, and a bad one is the dangerous part of the job. That connection falls under the same state license, so the person doing the work is accountable to the board that licensed them. In Hunterdon County, close to half of homes heat with gas, which is exactly the kind of repair this license is meant to cover.
Sources: New Jersey Legislature · New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. Check that it's set to heat and the set temperature is above room temperature, and make sure it has power if it runs on batteries. If the thermostat looks fine, check the furnace switch, the one that looks like a light switch near the unit, and the breaker for the furnace at your electrical panel. A furnace that still won't start after that likely has a bad igniter, a failed flame sensor, or a safety switch tripped by a clogged filter, and those need a contractor to diagnose.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- Most of the time this means the blower is running before the burners have caught, which is normal for the first minute or so of a cycle. If cold air keeps coming for longer than that, the igniter or flame sensor may be failing to light the gas, so the blower runs with nothing heating the air behind it. Check your filter too, since a blocked one can cause the furnace to shut its burners off early to avoid overheating. With winter lows here averaging 23°F, a furnace stuck on cold air needs attention fast, so call a contractor if the burners aren't lighting.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- This usually comes down to a weak or dirty thermocouple, the small sensor that tells the gas valve it's safe to keep the pilot burning. If it's coated in soot or has worn out, it can't hold the signal and the gas valve shuts the pilot off. A draft blowing across the pilot or a partially closed gas valve can also cause this. Relighting it yourself may work for a night, but if it keeps going out, have a contractor replace the thermocouple, since a furnace with no pilot means no heat through the winter here.