Furnace Repair in Kenai, AK
If your furnace quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Kenai Peninsula Borough will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Your furnace runs every month of the year here
On the Kenai Peninsula there's no season when the furnace sits idle. Winter nights average 9°F, so on the coldest stretches the burner is cycling on and off most of the day to keep up. Each start puts a little more wear on the igniter and the parts that get the burner going, and over enough years and enough cycles, one of them quits.
More than half the homes here heat with gas, and gas furnaces need power to run the blower and controls even when the burner itself is lit. Alaska households lost power for 24 hours or more at a rate of 21% last year, so when the lights go out in the cold, the furnace goes with them until power is back.
- 9°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 54%
- of homes here heat with gas, so most furnaces here burn gas
NOAA 1991–2020 monthly normals
A new furnace would cut about $220 a year off heating for a typical Kenai Peninsula Borough home.
Estimates for a typical Kenai Peninsula Borough home, compared with an older unit built to the previous federal minimum, from EIA household energy data, Alaska 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.
Alaska requires contractors to register with the state.
That registration puts the business on file with the state, nothing more. Alaska does not test a contractor's trade knowledge or issue a license tied to that knowledge, so the number on the paperwork means the business is on record, not that anyone checked its furnace work.
More than half the homes in Kenai Peninsula Borough heat with gas, so a furnace repair here is often gas work. Registration does not speak to how that work is done. It confirms the business is on file with the state, nothing about who is checking the repair itself.
Source: Alaska Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Most often the thermostat isn't calling for heat the way it should, or power isn't reaching the furnace. Check that the thermostat is set below room temperature and has fresh batteries if it uses them. Next check the furnace switch, which looks like a regular 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 be at fault, and that's a job for a contractor to open up and test.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- A furnace blowing cold air is usually stuck in fan-only mode or struggling to light. Check your thermostat is set to heat, not just fan on. If it's set right and you're still getting cold air, the igniter may be failing to light the burners, or the flame sensor is shutting the burners off right after they start. With lows around 9°F through the winter here, this isn't something to wait out. Have a contractor look at it soon.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- A pilot light that won't stay lit points to the thermocouple, the small sensor that sits in the pilot flame and tells the gas valve it's safe to keep the gas on. When that sensor wears out or sits out of position, it reads the flame as out even when it isn't, and shuts the gas off. A draft blowing out the pilot itself is the other common cause. Either way, a contractor can test the thermocouple and reposition or replace it.