Furnace Repair in Tahlequah, OK
Furnaces here run from October through April. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Cherokee County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Seven months of work, on nights near 30°F
Your furnace in Cherokee County runs October through April, seven months of the year. On winter nights that average 30°F, it cycles on and off many times to hold the house steady, and each start puts wear on the igniter and the parts that get the burner lit. When the igniter goes, the furnace won't light at all.
Nearly half the homes here heat with electricity, and this area has seen 9 winter storms and 58 damaging wind events over the past ten years. Statewide, a quarter of households lost power for at least 24 hours in 2024. When the power drops, an electric furnace stops heating, and it will not start back up on its own until the power is restored and someone resets it.
- 7 months
- October through April, your furnace is on duty
- 30°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 9 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Oklahoma requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The Construction Industries Board issues that license, and it belongs to the contractor, not to any single job. It covers the person doing the work, not each repair they take on.
For a furnace repair, that license is what stands behind the work. A gas furnace has to be connected and vented correctly, since a bad connection is what makes this job dangerous, and in Oklahoma the same license that lets a contractor take the job is what accounts for that part of it.
Source: Oklahoma State Legislature
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Start with the thermostat. Check that it's set to heat and the temperature is set above room temperature, and check the batteries if it uses them. If that's not it, check your breaker panel, since a tripped breaker will shut the whole system down. Many furnaces also have a switch that looks like a light switch near the unit itself, and it sometimes gets bumped off. If power and settings check out and it still won't start, the igniter or a safety switch inside the furnace may be at fault, and that calls for a contractor to look at it.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- The most common reason is the blower running before the burners have caught up, which is normal for a few minutes after startup. If cold air keeps coming for longer than that, check your thermostat fan setting. Setting it to "auto" instead of "on" stops the blower from running between heating cycles, when it only pushes room-temperature air. If the fan is set to auto and you're still getting cold air, the furnace may not be igniting properly, and a contractor will need to check the igniter and gas supply.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- This usually means the thermocouple isn't sensing the flame correctly, so the gas valve shuts off as a safety measure. It can also happen if there's a draft near the pilot assembly, or if the pilot orifice is dirty. Newer furnaces use an electronic igniter instead of a standing pilot, so if yours still has a pilot light, it's an older unit. A contractor can clean or replace the thermocouple, which is a common repair on furnaces of that age.