Furnace Repair in Nixa, MO
Furnaces here run from October through April. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Christian County will get in touch.
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Seven months of heat, and nights near 26 degrees
Nixa needs a working furnace from October through April. That's most of the year, and on the coldest nights the average low sits around 26°F, so the burner is cycling on and off for hours to keep up. Every cycle is a start, and the parts that handle the start, the igniter and the flame sensor, are the ones that wear down first. When one of them finally gives out, the furnace either won't light at all or shuts off soon after it does.
Christian County has also logged 11 winter storms and 143 damaging wind events over the past ten years. When the power drops, even a furnace with nothing wrong with it will not run.
- 7 months
- October through April, your furnace is on duty
- 26°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 11 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. Check that it's set to heat and the setpoint is above room temperature, and if it runs on batteries, swap them. If the thermostat looks right, check the furnace's power switch, usually a light switch near the unit, and the breaker it runs on. A dirty filter can also block enough airflow that the furnace shuts itself off as a safety measure, so check that too. If none of this brings it on, the igniter, the flame sensor, or the control board could be at fault, and a contractor will need to test the unit to find out which.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- Most of the time this means the blower is running but the burners haven't lit. A furnace blows a few seconds of cool air at the start of every cycle before the heat exchanger warms up, so short bursts of cold air are normal. If the air stays cold the whole time it runs, the igniter or flame sensor likely failed and the burners never came on. A thermostat set to fan instead of auto will also push room-temperature air through the vents nonstop, so check that setting first.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- This usually comes down to the thermocouple, the small sensor that tells the gas valve the pilot is burning. When it wears out or sits out of position, it reads the flame as out and shuts the gas off even though the pilot is lit. A draft blowing across the pilot or a dirty pilot orifice can also snuff it out or cause a weak flame that won't hold. Relighting it yourself will only be a temporary fix if the part behind it is failing, so a furnace with a pilot that won't stay lit needs a contractor to check the thermocouple and the gas valve.