Furnace Repair in Charleston, WV
Furnaces here run from October through April. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Kanawha County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Seven months of heat wears a furnace down
Your furnace works October through April here, seven months of the year. On winter nights averaging 27°F, it cycles on and off for hours at a stretch to hold the house at temperature. Over just one 27°F night your furnace lights the burner many times over, and every start puts the same strain on the igniter and the flame sensor.
More than half the homes in the area heat with gas, so when the burner won't light or won't stay lit, the house has no other source of heat to fall back on. Kanawha County has also logged 16 winter storms and 259 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and across West Virginia over a third of households lost power for at least 24 hours in 2024. A furnace that was already struggling to light often fails outright once the power cuts and comes back.
- 7 months
- October through April, your furnace is on duty
- 27°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 53%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 16 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace would cut about $140 a year off heating for a typical Kanawha County home.
Estimates for a typical Kanawha County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, West Virginia 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.
West Virginia requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The state tests contractors before they get this license, and the Commissioner of Labor keeps the record of who holds one. That license belongs to the contractor, not to any single job, so the same license that covers a furnace repair on one street covers the next one across town.
For a furnace repair, that license is what stands behind the person working on your gas line and burner. A bad connection there is the dangerous part of the job, and it's the contractor's license, not a separate inspection, that West Virginia relies on to keep that work in qualified hands. In Kanawha County, where more than half of homes heat with gas, that is the protection in place before anyone comes near your furnace.
Source: West Virginia Legislature
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Most often the thermostat isn't calling for heat the way it should, or power isn't reaching the furnace. Check that the thermostat is set below room temperature and has fresh batteries if it uses them. Next check the furnace switch, which looks like a light switch near the unit, and the breaker at your panel. If those are fine, the igniter or a safety switch inside the furnace may be at fault, and that's a job for a licensed contractor to test.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- If the air is cold and not just cool, the burners likely aren't lighting even though the blower is running. That points to the igniter, the flame sensor, or the gas valve not doing its job. It can also mean the thermostat fan is set to "on" instead of "auto", which pushes air through even when the furnace isn't heating it. With more than half of Kanawha County homes heating with gas, a burner or ignition problem is a common cause here.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- A pilot light that won't stay lit is usually the thermocouple, the small sensor that tells the gas valve the flame is burning. When it wears out or sits out of position, it shuts the gas off even with a lit pilot. A draft blowing out the flame or a clogged pilot orifice can cause the same thing. Either way it takes a contractor to check and replace the part, since the gas valve shouldn't be relit repeatedly on a guess.