Furnace Repair in Santa Fe, NM
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Santa Fe County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eight months of heat wears a furnace down in Santa Fe County
Your furnace runs from October through May here. Nights average 20°F through the worst of winter, so the burner is cycling on and off most of the day and night for months at a time. Every one of those starts puts wear on the igniter and the burner assembly.
Most homes in Santa Fe County heat with gas. When the igniter finally wears out, the furnace won't light at all, and the house goes cold at night when you need it most. Power loss adds another risk. Winter storms have hit this area 134 times in the last ten years, and when the power drops, a furnace with electronic ignition drops with it until the power comes back.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 20°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 66%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 134 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace would cut about $80 a year off heating for a typical Santa Fe County home.
Estimates for a typical Santa Fe 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.
New Mexico's Construction Industries Division issues the license, which means the contractor has been tested and is on record with the state before they ever walk into your house. The license covers the contractor, not the job, so the same license that qualifies someone to repair a furnace also covers the other HVAC work they take on.
For a furnace repair, that license is what stands behind the work here. Gas is the part that makes this job different from most repairs, since a loose fitting or a bad connection is what turns a repair into a hazard, and in New Mexico the license is what accounts for whether the person doing that work has been tested to do it. In Santa Fe County, 66.3% of homes heat with gas, so this is the rule that applies to most of the furnaces in the county, not just the one in your house.
Source: New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. If the screen is blank or the setting is off, that's your answer before you look anywhere else. If the thermostat looks right, check the switch on the furnace itself, the one that looks like a light switch, and make sure the door panel is seated all the way shut, since most furnaces won't run with it loose or off. A tripped breaker or a blown fuse on the furnace's own circuit will also stop it cold. If all of that checks out and it still won't start, the igniter or a safety switch inside may be the problem, and that calls for a contractor to look at it.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- Most often this means the furnace hasn't caught up yet, or the blower is running without the burners lit. Right after you raise the thermostat, the blower can start before the heat exchanger warms up, so a minute or two of cool air is normal. If it blows cold the whole time it runs, the igniter may not be lighting the burners at all, or the gas valve isn't opening. A dirty filter can also choke airflow enough that the air feels cooler than it should. If changing the filter doesn't fix it, the ignition system needs a contractor's attention.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- This usually comes down to the thermocouple, the small sensor that sits in the pilot flame and tells the gas valve it's safe to stay open. When it wears out or sits slightly out of position, it reads the flame as out even when it isn't, and the valve shuts the gas off. A draft blowing across the pilot can also snuff it out, so check that the area around the burner compartment isn't exposed to a vent or a gap letting in outside air. If you relight it and it goes out again within a minute or two, the thermocouple needs to be adjusted or replaced, which is a job for a licensed contractor.