Furnace Repair in Michigan City, IN
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers LaPorte County will get in touch.
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Eight months of heat puts a lot of hours on your furnace
Michigan City needs a working furnace from October through May. That's eight months a year, with winter nights averaging 20°F from December through February. On nights that cold, the burner is cycling on and off for hours at a stretch, and every cycle depends on the igniter lighting the gas cleanly. Most homes here heat with gas, so when the igniter starts to go, you notice fast. The furnace tries to start, clicks, and doesn't catch.
LaPorte County also sees its share of hard weather. Ten years of storm records show 60 damaging wind events and 4 winter storms come through. Wind like that can knock out power, and in Indiana last year 17% of households lost power for at least 24 hours. A furnace with a standing pilot will still light without power, but most modern furnaces need electricity to run the blower and ignition system, so when the power drops on a cold night, the heat drops with it.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 20°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 83%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 4 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace would cut about $110 a year off heating for a typical LaPorte County home.
Estimates for a typical LaPorte County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Indiana 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.
In Indiana, HVAC licensing for homes is left to the counties and cities.
LaPorte County sets its own rule on who can do this work, and whether a license is required here depends on the local building office rather than any state list. Indiana keeps no state record of HVAC contractors, so there is no statewide test or number to check. Whatever proof of qualification exists for a job like this comes from the county or city, not from Indianapolis.
For a furnace repair, the part that matters most is the gas connection, since a bad one is what makes the job dangerous. In LaPorte County there is no state license behind that work, so nothing stands in for it except whatever the local building office requires. With 83.2% of homes in the county heating with gas, that connection is the part of this job worth caring about most.
Sources: Indiana Department of Workforce Development · State of Indiana
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Most of the time the thermostat isn't calling for heat the way it should, or power to the furnace has been interrupted. Check that the thermostat is set below room temperature and has fresh batteries if it uses them. Next check the furnace switch, the one that looks like a light switch near the unit, and the breaker for the furnace. If those are fine, the igniter or a safety switch inside the furnace may have failed, and that calls for a contractor to open it up and test it.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- If air is moving but it's cold, the furnace is likely running the blower without the burners lighting. That points to an ignition problem, a clogged filter starving it of airflow, or a flame sensor that's shutting the burners off right after they light. A dirty filter is the one you can check yourself. Pull it and look at it, and if it's gray with dust, replace it. If a new filter doesn't fix it, the ignition system needs a contractor to look at it.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- A pilot that won't stay lit almost always means the thermocouple has worn out. That's the small metal rod that sits in the pilot flame and tells the gas valve it's safe to keep sending gas. When it wears out, it can't hold that signal and the valve shuts the gas off, even though the flame looks fine when you first light it. This is a cheap part but it takes a contractor to replace it correctly, since the gas valve is involved. Winters here run October through May, so a furnace stuck on pilot problems is worth getting looked at before a stretch of cold nights.