Furnace Repair in Westerly, RI
Furnaces here run from October through May. If yours quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Washington County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eight months of heat puts real wear on a furnace here
In Westerly, your furnace runs from October through May. On winter nights averaging 24°F, it cycles on and off for hours at a stretch, and each start puts a little more wear on the igniter and the burner. Over a season with that many cycles, the parts that light the flame are the first to give out.
A lot of homes here run on fuel oil, 40.5 percent by the numbers, and an oil furnace depends on a clean nozzle and a steady spark to light properly. Storms are part of the picture too. Over the past ten years the area has seen 31 winter storms and 111 damaging wind events, and a furnace stops the moment the power drops. Statewide, 12 percent of households went at least a full day without power in 2024, which is long enough for a house to go cold.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace is on duty
- 24°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 31 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Rhode Island requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
Rhode Island's Department of Labor and Training tests contractors before they can hold this license, and it keeps a record of who holds one. The license belongs to the contractor, not to any one job, so the same license that covers a furnace repair on one street covers it on the next.
For a furnace repair, that license is what stands behind the person working on your gas line and burner. A bad connection there is the dangerous part of the job, and the state's testing is what is supposed to keep someone unqualified from making that connection in the first place.
Source: Rhode Island General Assembly
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Start with the thermostat and the power switch. Check that the thermostat is set to heat and a few degrees above room temperature, and check the switch that looks like a light switch near the furnace, since it can get bumped off. If those are fine, the igniter may have failed, or a safety switch tripped because the filter is clogged and airflow is blocked. With 40.5% of homes here heating with fuel oil, a furnace that won't start can also mean the oil tank is empty or the nozzle is clogged. A licensed contractor can test the igniter, the safety switches, and the burner to find which one it is.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- Most often this means the burner isn't lighting even though the blower is running. The fan can turn on before the flame catches, so a few seconds of cool air at startup is normal, but cold air the whole cycle points to a failed igniter, a dirty flame sensor, or no fuel reaching the burner. It can also mean the furnace is set to fan only instead of heat, so check the thermostat setting first. Since homes here need heat from October through May, a furnace stuck on cold air is worth having looked at quickly rather than waiting.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- A pilot that won't stay lit usually means the thermocouple has worn out and is no longer telling the gas valve that a flame is present, so the valve shuts the gas off. A draft blowing across the pilot or a dirty pilot orifice can cause the same thing. A standing pilot doesn't use electricity, so a power outage isn't the cause. This is a repair for a licensed contractor, since it involves the gas valve and needs to be checked for a proper flame afterward.