Furnace Repair in Concord, NH
Furnaces here run from September through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Merrimack County will get in touch.
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Nine months of heat puts real wear on a furnace
Concord homes need heat from September through May. That is nine months a year the burner is cycling on and off, and on nights that average 14°F, it runs long and often to keep up. Every cycle puts a small strain on the igniter and the parts that get the burner lit.
A third of homes here heat with fuel oil, and oil furnaces depend on a clean nozzle and a steady spark to light properly. When the igniter or the oil supply falters, the furnace either won't start or won't stay running, and on a cold night that shows up fast. Add in the power outages that hit New Hampshire, 22% of households lost power for at least 24 hours in 2024, and a furnace that relies on electricity to run its blower and controls can go down even when nothing inside it is broken.
- 9 months
- September through May, your furnace is on duty
- 14°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 35 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
New Hampshire has no state license for HVAC contractors.
There is no license and no registration for HVAC contractors in New Hampshire, so there is no state record to check on the contractor who comes to work on your furnace in Merrimack County. The state does not test these contractors, and it does not file them anywhere. Whatever protection exists has to come from somewhere else.
For a furnace repair, gas is the part that matters most. A bad connection or a bad vent is the dangerous part of the job. New Hampshire's answer to that is no state rule at all, for this trade or for gas work tied to it. There is no license standing behind the person who comes to your house.
Source: New Hampshire General Court
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Most often 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 above 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 have failed, and that needs a contractor to diagnose.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- If the blower is running but the air isn't warm, the furnace may be running through its startup cycle, which takes a minute or two before warm air comes through. If cold air keeps blowing, the igniter may not be lighting the burners, or the gas valve isn't opening. A dirty filter can also cause the furnace to overheat and shut off the burners while the fan keeps running. Check the filter first, since that's the one thing worth trying before calling someone out.
- 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 stay open. Once it wears out, it shuts the gas off even though the flame is fine, and it needs to be replaced by a contractor. A draft blowing out the flame or a dirty pilot orifice can cause the same symptom, so it's worth checking whether the pilot is exposed to airflow before assuming it's the thermocouple.