Furnace Repair in Cape Girardeau, MO
Furnaces here run from October through April. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Cape Girardeau County will get in touch.
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Cape Girardeau winters keep your furnace working seven months straight
From October through April your furnace is the thing standing between you and a 27°F night. That's seven months of the burner lighting, running, and shutting off, over and over. Every one of those cycles puts wear on the igniter and the flame sensor. Eventually one of them quits. That's when you notice the blower running but no heat coming out, or the furnace trying to start and failing.
Cape Girardeau County has seen 10 winter storms and 120 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and storms like that knock out power. Nearly half the homes here heat with electricity, so when the power drops, the heat drops with it even if the furnace itself is fine. Missouri households lost power for a full day or more often enough in 2024 that it's worth knowing how your furnace behaves after an outage. Most restart on their own once power returns. If yours doesn't, something else needs a look.
- 7 months
- October through April, your furnace is on duty
- 27°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 10 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Most of the time this comes down to the thermostat, the power supply, or the furnace not getting the signal to start. Check that the thermostat is set to heat and the temperature is above room temperature, and check the breaker for the furnace along with any power switch near the unit itself, which looks like a light switch. If those are fine, the igniter or a safety switch inside the furnace may be stopping it from starting, and that needs a contractor to check. With winter nights here averaging 27°F, a furnace that won't start is worth getting looked at quickly.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- If air is blowing but it's not warm, the furnace may be running the fan without the burners lighting, or it could be in a startup cycle where cool air comes out for a short time before it heats up. A dirty filter can also cause this by restricting airflow enough that the furnace shuts the burners off to protect itself while the fan keeps running. Check the filter first since that's something you can look at yourself. If the filter is clean and the air stays cold, the ignition system likely needs a contractor to diagnose it.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- This usually means the thermocouple isn't sensing the flame correctly, so the gas valve shuts off even though the pilot lit for a moment. It can also happen if there's a draft near the pilot or if the pilot orifice is dirty. A standing pilot doesn't use electricity, so a power outage isn't the cause. If relighting it doesn't hold, the thermocouple likely needs to be adjusted or replaced, and that's a job for a contractor since it involves the gas line.