Furnace Repair in Manchester, NH
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Hillsborough County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eight months of Manchester winter wears on a furnace
Your furnace has to run from October through May here, eight months of the year. On nights that average 16°F, the burner is not idling. It is lighting, running, and shutting off over and over to keep the house warm, and that cycling is what wears out an igniter or a flame sensor before its time.
Winter here also brings storms, 72 of them over the past ten years, along with 147 damaging wind events. Storms like that put power at risk, and in 2024, 22% of New Hampshire households lost power for 24 hours or more. Most furnaces come back on their own once power returns. If yours does not restart, or runs rough afterward, that is worth having looked at before the next cold night.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 16°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 72 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A new furnace would cut about $150 a year off heating for a typical Hillsborough County home.
Estimates for a typical Hillsborough County home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, New Hampshire 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.
New Hampshire has no state license for HVAC contractors.
There is no registration behind that either, so the state keeps no list of who does this work and no record of anyone being tested. Whatever protection exists comes from somewhere other than a license, because in New Hampshire there isn't one.
For a furnace repair, the part that matters most is the gas connection, since that is the dangerous part of the job if it is done wrong. No state credential stands behind that check here. In Hillsborough County, close to 4 in 10 homes heat with gas, so this is a normal part of the job in this county, not an unusual one.
Source: New Hampshire General Court
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. Check that it is set to heat and set above room temperature, and that the batteries aren't dead if it has them. If the thermostat looks fine, check the furnace switch, the one that looks like a light switch near the unit or on the basement stairs, and make sure it hasn't been bumped off. A furnace that still won't start after that is usually a bad igniter, a tripped limit switch, or a flame sensor that needs cleaning, and those need a contractor to check.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- Most often the furnace hasn't caught up yet. When it first kicks on, air moves through the ducts before it's had time to warm, so a minute or two of cool air is normal. If it keeps blowing cold or never warms up, the igniter may be failing to light the burners, or the flame sensor may be shutting the burners off right after they start. Either one keeps the blower running without any heat behind it, and a contractor will need to find which.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- A pilot that won't stay lit is almost always the thermocouple, the small sensor that sits in the flame and tells the gas valve it's safe to stay open. When it wears out or sits slightly out of position, the valve reads no flame and shuts the gas off even though the pilot was burning. A draft blowing out the pilot is the other common cause, worth ruling out before anything else. If neither fixes it, the thermocouple needs replacing, and that's a job for a contractor since it involves the gas valve.