Furnace Repair in Kotzebue, AK
If your furnace quits, tell us what it's doing and a licensed contractor who covers Northwest Arctic Borough will get in touch.
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It takes about a minute.
Your furnace never gets a break here
In Kotzebue your furnace runs all twelve months. There is no season where it gets to idle. December through February the nights average 6 below zero, and the burner is cycling on and off around the clock to keep up. Most homes here burn fuel oil, and every one of those starts puts wear on the igniter and the oil nozzle. When one of those parts finally gives out, you will notice fast.
The borough has logged 18 winter storms and 8 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and across Alaska households went at least 24 hours without power in 2024. A furnace that loses power will not restart on its own when the power comes back. If yours has a standing pilot, the burner itself needs no power to stay lit, but the blower and controls do, and a hard freeze during an outage is when a weak part fails.
- -6°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 18 winter storms
- in ten years, the nights a failure hurts most
NOAA 1991–2020 monthly normals
Alaska requires contractors to register with the state.
The state keeps a record of the business, its address, and whoever owns it. Nobody at the state tests a contractor's furnace repair skills before that record gets created, and nothing about it vouches for the work itself.
With no trade exam behind the registration, the checks on a furnace repair happen elsewhere. Gas work is the part that matters most, since a loose fitting or bad connection at the furnace is what makes the job dangerous. The registration confirms who the contractor is. It says nothing about the gas line itself.
Source: Alaska Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development
- Why won't my furnace turn on?
- Most often it's the thermostat, the power supply, or the ignition system. Check that the thermostat is set to heat and the temperature is above room temperature, and check the breaker for the furnace. If those are fine, the igniter or the flame sensor may have failed, and that needs a contractor to test and replace. With heat needed here all year and winter lows around -6°F, this isn't one to leave for long.
- Why is my furnace blowing cold air?
- The furnace is likely running the blower without the burners lit. That happens when the igniter can't light the fuel, when the flame sensor shuts the burners off after a failed light, or when the thermostat fan is set to on instead of auto. A dirty filter can also starve the burners of air and trip a safety switch. A contractor can tell which one it is quickly, since the fix is different for each.
- Why won't my furnace pilot light stay lit?
- A pilot that won't stay lit is usually the thermocouple, the small sensor that tells the gas valve the flame is real. If it's dirty, bent away from the flame, or worn out, the gas valve shuts the pilot off as a safety measure. A draft blowing across the pilot can also blow it out. If this keeps happening, have a contractor check the thermocouple and the pilot assembly rather than relighting it over and over.