Franklin Park, PA · Heating repair
Furnace repair in Franklin Park
If the house is cold, start with the four checks below — they resolve a meaningful share of no-heat calls in a few minutes and cost nothing. If they do not, tell us what is happening and we will pass it to HVAC professionals serving the borough.
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Four checks worth doing before you call
These are safe for a homeowner, take a few minutes, and account for a real share of no-heat calls. Nothing here involves opening a sealed combustion chamber, touching gas piping, or working on wiring.
1. The thermostat
Confirm it is set to HEAT, that the target temperature is several degrees above the current room temperature, and that the display is lit. Replace the batteries even if the screen looks fine — a weakening battery can drive odd behaviour before it dies outright. If the fan setting is on ON rather than AUTO, the blower runs continuously and the air from the vents will feel cold between heating cycles, which is often mistaken for a broken furnace.
2. Power to the furnace
There is usually a switch that looks exactly like an ordinary light switch on or near the furnace, often at the top of the basement stairs. It gets flipped by accident more often than you would think. Then check your electrical panel for a tripped breaker. If a breaker trips again immediately after you reset it, stop and have it investigated — that is an electrical fault, not an inconvenience.
3. The filter
Pull it out and hold it up to a light. If light does not pass through it, it is choking the system. A blocked filter starves the furnace of return air, the heat exchanger overheats, and a high-limit switch shuts the burner down — which presents as a furnace that runs briefly and then stops. Replacing it is the single highest-value five minutes available to a homeowner.
4. Outside, if you have a high-efficiency furnace
This one is specific to winters here. High-efficiency condensing furnaces vent through white PVC pipes that terminate on an exterior wall rather than through a chimney. Drifting snow, an ice ridge sliding off a roof, or a bird’s nest can block the intake or exhaust, and the pressure switch will refuse to let the furnace fire. Clearing snow away from those pipes is safe, sensible and fixes the problem outright. After heavy snow in the North Hills it is worth checking as a matter of routine.
Stop and get out if any of these apply
A smell of gas or rotten eggs, a sounding carbon monoxide alarm, smoke or a burning electrical smell, visible scorching around the furnace, or more than one person in the house feeling headachy, dizzy or nauseated. Leave the house, then call 911 and your gas utility from outside. Do not use this form.
Request help
Tell us what the furnace is doing
The more specific you can be about the symptom, the better prepared a contractor arrives. Free to send, no obligation.
Telling us what is wrong takes about a minute. There is no charge for sending a request and no obligation to hire anyone.
We are not an HVAC contractor. We pass what you tell us to HVAC professionals serving Franklin Park so they can contact you directly.
What each symptom usually points at
None of this replaces a diagnosis. It is here so you can describe the problem precisely and recognise when an explanation you are given does not fit what your system is actually doing.
Nothing happens at all — no fan, blank thermostat
Look at power before anything else: the breaker, the furnace switch, and thermostat batteries. If those are fine, the common causes are a failed low-voltage transformer, a blown control-board fuse (often a small automotive-style fuse on the board), or a door safety switch that is not being pressed because the blower door is not seated properly. That last one is worth checking if the fault appeared immediately after someone changed a filter.
It tries to start, clicks several times, then gives up
This is a failed ignition sequence ending in lockout. On most modern furnaces the usual suspects are a dirty flame sensor, a cracked or worn hot-surface igniter, a pressure switch that is not closing because the flue or intake is obstructed, or a gas supply problem. Many furnaces flash a diagnostic code on a small LED behind the access panel — counting the flashes and telling the contractor is genuinely useful information.
It heats, then quits, then heats again
Short cycling. Overheating from restricted airflow is the most common cause and the most damaging one, because every high-limit trip stresses the heat exchanger. Check the filter first, then check that supply registers throughout the house are open and not covered by furniture or rugs. Closing vents in unused rooms to “save money” is a frequent and counterproductive cause.
Grinding, squealing or rattling
Noise is worth acting on early. A rising squeal or grind usually means blower motor bearings, and a motor that seizes on the coldest night of the year is a much larger bill than one replaced in October. A rhythmic rattle is often a loose panel or blower wheel. A scraping sound should stop you turning the system on until it is looked at.
Smells
A dusty, hot smell for the first ten or twenty minutes of the first run of the season is normal dust burn-off. A persistent burning or electrical smell is not — shut the system off at the switch. Any sulphur or rotten-egg smell means leave the house and call 911 and your gas utility from outside.
What a diagnostic visit should give you
Before the technician leaves, you should be able to answer three questions: which component failed, why it failed, and whether anything else contributed. That last one matters. A flame sensor that fouls every winter, or a blower motor that burns out twice, is usually a symptom of an airflow or venting problem that will keep producing failures until someone addresses it.
It is reasonable to ask for the failed part to be shown to you, to ask whether the repair carries a parts and labour warranty and for how long, and to ask whether the diagnostic fee is credited against the repair if you go ahead.
Straight answers
Questions homeowners ask
My furnace shuts off after a few minutes. What is that?
Short cycling like this most often means the furnace is overheating and a limit switch is shutting it down to protect it, or the flame sensor is dirty and the control board cannot confirm the burner lit. The overheating version is usually an airflow problem — a clogged filter, closed or blocked vents, or a failing blower. The flame sensor version is a routine cleaning for a technician. Either way, do not keep resetting it: repeated lockouts on a furnace that is overheating can crack a heat exchanger.
Is it safe to keep resetting a furnace that keeps locking out?
No. A lockout is a safety device doing its job after the furnace failed to prove a safe start, usually three times in a row. Resetting it repeatedly forces more ignition attempts on a system that has already told you something is wrong, which can mean unburned gas, a blocked flue, or an overheating heat exchanger. One reset to confirm the fault is reasonable. After that, stop and have it looked at.
There is a loud bang when the furnace starts. Should I worry?
Treat it seriously. A bang or boom at ignition usually means delayed ignition — gas is accumulating in the burner compartment before it lights, and the noise is that gas igniting all at once. It can damage the heat exchanger. Turn the furnace off at the switch and have it inspected before running it again. A separate metallic bang when the system starts or stops is more often ductwork flexing, which is annoying rather than dangerous.
Why does my furnace blow cold air?
If it blows cold constantly, the thermostat fan setting may simply be on ON rather than AUTO, which runs the blower whether or not the burner is lit. If it blows warm and then turns cold mid-cycle, the burner is shutting down while the blower keeps running — commonly a dirty flame sensor, a blocked flue or intake, or an overheating limit trip. If it never gets warm at all, the burner is not lighting.
How much does a furnace repair cost in the Pittsburgh area?
We do not publish price ranges, because a number we cannot stand behind is worse than no number. What we can tell you is what drives it: most contractors charge a diagnostic or service-call fee to come out and identify the fault, then quote the repair separately. A dirty flame sensor and a failed inductor motor are not remotely the same job. Ask whether the diagnostic fee is credited toward the repair, and get the failed part named in writing.
Should I repair this furnace or replace it?
The honest test is not age alone. Weigh the repair quote against what a replacement would cost, factor in how many repairs the system has needed in the last two or three years, and ask whether the failed part is a wear item or a core component. A cracked heat exchanger is the one clear stop — that furnace should not be run again regardless of age.
Related
Where to go next
How to judge whether a no-heat night is genuinely urgent, and how to protect your pipes while you wait.
Furnace replacementIf the repair quote is large or this is the third fault in two winters, work through the replacement decision properly.
What HVAC work costsWhat actually moves a repair or replacement price here, and how to compare two quotes that look nothing alike.
HVAC maintenanceSeveral of the faults on this page are the direct result of skipped maintenance. Here is what a real tune-up covers.