Furnace Repair in Silver City, NM
Furnaces here run from October through April. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Grant County will get in touch.
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Seven months of hard use wear a furnace down
Silver City needs heat from October through April, seven months of the year. On winter nights averaging 27°F, your furnace is cycling on and off for hours to hold the house steady, and every start puts wear on the igniter and the parts that get the burner lit.
Grant County has seen 11 winter storms and 46 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and across New Mexico 13% of households lost power for at least 24 hours in 2024. A furnace with an electric igniter or blower will not run until the power is back on. A standing pilot keeps burning through the outage, but the blower still needs power to move heat through the house.
- 7 months
- October through April, your furnace is on duty
- 27°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
A new furnace would cut about $50 a year off heating for a typical Grant County home.
Estimates for a typical Grant 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 license is held by the contractor, not issued job by job. It comes from the Construction Industries Division, which tests contractors on the work they do and keeps that record before anyone touches your furnace.
For gas furnace work, that license is what stands behind the person in your house. A furnace burns gas, and the connection and venting are the part that matters most, since that is where a mistake turns dangerous. In New Mexico, the contractor's license is what answers for that work. In Grant County, 42.9% of homes heat with gas.
Source: New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Start with the thermostat and the power switch, the one that looks like a light switch near the furnace itself. If those check out, the trouble is usually the igniter, a flame sensor that's telling the system not to fire, or the flue sensor. A gas furnace that keeps failing to start often shuts itself down as a safety measure rather than run unsafely, so it's worth having a contractor check it before the next cold night.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- Most often the furnace hasn't actually started heating yet, since it will run the blower for a short stretch before the burners catch up. If cold air keeps coming for more than a few minutes, check the air filter first, since a clogged one can choke off airflow and trip a safety limit that stops the burners while the fan keeps running. A dirty flame sensor can cause the same thing. Either way, a furnace blowing cold air for any length of time needs a look before the next cold night.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- This almost always comes down to the thermocouple, the small sensor that tells the gas valve a flame is present. When it wears out or sits out of position, it reads no flame even when one exists and shuts the gas off. A draft blowing across the pilot or a dirty pilot orifice can cause the same thing. None of these are worth relighting over and over. With homes here needing heat from October through April, a furnace that can't hold a pilot light is worth having fixed before the next stretch of cold nights.