Furnace Repair in Lynn, MA
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Essex County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eight months of work, in cold most furnaces don't see
From October to May your furnace is the only thing standing between your house and 21 degree nights. That is eight months of the burner lighting and shutting off, over and over, night after night. Each cycle puts a little more wear on the igniter, and igniters are usually the first thing to fail. When it goes, the furnace won't light at all.
Essex County has also seen 54 winter storms and 256 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and statewide, one in ten households lost power for at least a day in 2024. A furnace that loses power mid-cycle doesn't always come back on the way it should, and the same storms that knock out power tend to be the nights you need heat the most.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 21°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 56%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
- 54 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace would cut about $210 a year off heating for a typical Essex County home.
Estimates for a typical Essex County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Massachusetts 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.
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Start with the thermostat and the power switch on the furnace itself, since a bumped setting or a flipped switch stops the whole system cold. If those check out, look at the furnace door. It has to sit flush and latch fully, because a safety switch there cuts power if it senses the door isn't closed right. Check the air filter too. When it's clogged, some furnaces shut down rather than run with poor airflow. If none of that brings it back on, the igniter or a safety sensor likely needs a contractor to look at it.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- Most often the furnace is still starting up. Cold air moves through the ducts for a short while before the burners heat things up, so give it a few minutes before assuming something's wrong. If cold air keeps coming and never warms, check the thermostat fan setting. Set to "on," the fan runs constantly, including between heating cycles when there's no warm air to push. If the fan is set to "auto" and you're still getting cold air, the igniter or the gas valve may not be lighting the burners, and that calls for a contractor to check it.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- A pilot light that won't stay lit usually means the thermocouple has worn out. That's the small sensor that sits in the pilot flame and tells the gas valve it's safe to keep gas flowing. When it fails, the valve shuts the gas off as a safety measure, even though the flame was there a second ago. A draft blowing across the pilot can also cause the same failure. Either way, this is a repair for a licensed contractor, since it involves the gas valve.