Furnace Repair in Beckley, WV
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Raleigh County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eight months of heat, and the power to run it
Beckley needs heat from October through May. That is eight months a year the burner is lighting, shutting off, and lighting again, on nights that average 25°F from December through February. Every start puts a little more wear on the igniter and the flame sensor, and one of them eventually stops doing its job. The furnace either won't light or it lights and shuts itself back off.
55.9% of homes here heat with electricity, so the blower and controls depend on a power supply that does not always hold. Raleigh County has seen 22 winter storms and 105 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and across West Virginia, 35% of households lost power for at least a day in 2024. When the power drops and comes back, most furnaces restart on their own. If yours does not, the problem is in the furnace, not the outage.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 25°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 22 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
West Virginia requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The Commissioner of Labor tests and records the contractor before they can hold that license. It covers the contractor as a business, not the individual repair, so the same license backs whatever job they take on.
For a furnace repair, the person working on the gas line and burner assembly is the one that license is tied to. That matters because a bad gas connection is the dangerous part of the job, and in West Virginia it is the licensed contractor who answers for that work.
Source: West Virginia Legislature
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. Check that it's set to heat and the temperature is above room temperature, and check the batteries if it uses them. If that's not it, check your breaker panel and the furnace's own power switch, since a tripped breaker or a switch that got bumped off will stop the furnace cold. Many furnaces also have a flame sensor or limit switch that shuts the unit down as a safety measure, and that can look identical to a power problem from the outside. If the thermostat, breaker, and switch all check out and it still won't start, a contractor will need to look at the ignition system itself.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- Most of the time this means the blower is running but the burners haven't lit. The blower and the burners are controlled separately, so it's possible for one to work without the other. A dirty flame sensor, a failed igniter, or a gas valve that isn't opening can all keep the burners from lighting while the fan keeps moving air. It can also mean the thermostat fan setting is stuck on instead of auto, which runs the blower even when there's no call for heat. If the air stays cold after checking the thermostat setting, the furnace needs a contractor to check the ignition system.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- This usually means the thermocouple isn't sensing the flame, so the gas valve shuts back off even after the pilot lights. A thermocouple that's dirty, out of position, or worn out will do this, and it's a common part to fail on older furnaces. A draft reaching the pilot, or a pilot orifice that's partly clogged, can also cause it. If relighting it works for a moment but it goes out again, don't keep repeating the relighting process. Have a contractor check the thermocouple and the pilot assembly.