Furnace Repair in Las Cruces, NM
Furnaces here run from November through April. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Doña Ana County will get in touch.
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Six months of nights near freezing wear a furnace down
Your furnace works from November through April here, about six months of the year. On winter nights that average 30°F, it has to cycle on and off for hours at a stretch to hold the house steady. Most homes in Doña Ana County heat with gas, so that means the burner and igniter are doing this work night after night, all winter.
Each start puts a little more wear on the igniter and the components that sense the flame. Over enough cold nights, one of them gives out, and the furnace either won't light or shuts off on its own. Wind is part of the picture too. The area has logged 83 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and wind can pull heat out of a house fast and push a struggling furnace harder to keep up.
- 6 months
- November through April, your furnace is on duty
- 30°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 61%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 5 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace would cut about $40 a year off heating for a typical Doña Ana County home.
Estimates for a typical Doña Ana County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, New Mexico 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 Mexico requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The Construction Industries Division licenses the contractor, not the job itself. That means the license on file tells you the person or company was tested by the state and answers to the state for the work they do. It does not mean this specific furnace repair gets checked by anyone before or after the fact.
For a gas furnace repair, that license is what stands behind the work. The connection between your furnace and its gas line is the part that has to be right, and here it is the contractor's license, not a separate inspection, that is supposed to answer for that. In Doña Ana County, where 60.7% of homes heat with gas, that license is the protection most furnace repairs are getting.
Source: New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Most often the thermostat isn't sending power to the furnace, or the furnace itself isn't getting power. Check that the thermostat is set to heat and the temperature is above room level, and check the breaker for the furnace. If those are fine, the igniter may have failed, or a safety switch is holding the furnace off because of a blocked vent or a dirty flame sensor. A furnace won't run if any of its safety switches are open, even if everything else is working.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- If air is moving but it's not warm, the burners likely aren't lighting even though the blower is running. That points to the igniter, the flame sensor, or the gas valve. It can also mean the thermostat fan is set to "on" instead of "auto", which pushes air through the ducts between heating cycles. A contractor can check which part is at fault.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- A pilot light that won't stay lit is almost always the thermocouple, the small sensor that tells the gas valve the flame is burning. When it wears out or sits out of position, it reads no flame and shuts the gas off even while the pilot is lit. A draft near the pilot or a dirty pilot opening can cause the same thing. This isn't something to keep relighting on your own since it means the safety system isn't working as it should.