Furnace Repair in Portage, IN
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Porter County will get in touch.
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Eight months of heat, and nights that get down to 20
Portage needs its furnace from October through May. That is eight months of the year the burner has to work, and on winter nights that average 20°F, it runs long and often to keep up.
Most homes here heat with gas, so the burner cycles on and off many times a day through the coldest stretch. Each cycle puts wear on the igniter that lights it. When the igniter finally gives out, the furnace stops lighting altogether and the house goes cold. Porter County has also seen its share of winter storms and high wind, and with 17% of Indiana households losing power for at least 24 hours last year, a furnace that will not restart when the power comes back on is its own kind of emergency.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 20°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 87%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 13 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace would cut about $120 a year off heating for a typical Porter County home.
Estimates for a typical Porter 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.
Porter County sets its own rule for who can do this work. There is no state license behind a contractor here, so whatever license applies to a furnace repair comes from the county or the city where the house sits, not from any state record.
Most homes in Porter County heat with gas, 87.1% of them, so the part of this repair that matters most is the gas connection. Whether that connection gets checked and by whom depends on what Porter County or the city requires, since Indiana leaves that decision to local government rather than setting one rule for the whole state.
Sources: Indiana Department of Workforce Development · State of Indiana
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Most often it's the thermostat, the power to the unit, or the igniter. Check that the thermostat is set to heat and above room temperature, and check the breaker for the furnace. If those are fine, the igniter may have failed, and a furnace won't start without it. With 20°F nights common here in the winter, it's worth getting a contractor out quickly rather than waiting.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- Usually the furnace is running the fan without the burners lit. This happens when the flame sensor is dirty and shuts the burners off after ignition, or when the thermostat fan setting is on rather than auto. It can also mean the igniter isn't lighting the gas at all. A contractor can tell which one it is from the pattern of when the cold air runs.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- The thermocouple is the usual cause. It sits in the pilot flame and signals the gas valve to stay open, and once it wears out or sits out of position, the flame won't hold. A draft blowing across the pilot or a dirty pilot orifice can also do it. A standing pilot doesn't need power to run, so this isn't a power problem, it's a parts problem, and a contractor can replace the thermocouple directly.