Tell us about the job
Takes about a minute. No obligation.
A contractor diagnosing a furnace in Reno County looks first at the ignition system and heat exchanger, because those are the parts that cycle every time a call for heat goes out. Homes in Reno County, KS run heat about seven months a year, from October through April. Burner components and igniters that fire repeatedly across a long season wear at a rate a part sitting idle never would. By the time a homeowner calls for a repair, the ignition system has likely already accumulated the kind of cycling that surfaces cracks, fouling, and contact wear. A contractor who skips a full inspection of those components in favor of a quick fix will miss what the season has already done to the rest of the assembly.
Furnaces running in older housing stock tend to outlast the supply chains built around them. Half the homes in Reno County, Kansas were built in 1962 or earlier (2020-2024 ACS 5-year). A contractor who opens a unit in a house that age is checking whether the heat exchanger, the control board, or the blower motor it takes is still in production somewhere, and what a substitute part costs if it is. That search drives the repair bill more than the labor does. Sourcing a discontinued component for a system that has been running since it was first installed is a different job than ordering off a current parts list.
The Parts of a Furnace a Contractor Checks First
The heat exchanger sits at the core of the furnace cabinet in your basement or utility room and is where combustion gases warm the air your home breathes. When it cracks or corrodes, the furnace often shuts itself down or runs poorly. The burners sit just below it and are the first place a contractor looks when the unit fails to produce heat.
The blower motor and its fan wheel sit in the lower half of the cabinet and push conditioned air out through the supply side of your duct system. The draft inducer, mounted near the flue outlet, pulls combustion gases out of the heat exchanger before each cycle starts. The control board ties all of it together and is a common source of erratic behavior when individual components test out fine on their own.
The drawing shows a general furnace layout, and a licensed contractor determines which components apply to your particular system and situation.
Get matched in Reno CountyReno County, by the numbers
265 severe weather events were recorded in Reno County, Kansas between 2015 and 2024.
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, bulk CSV export, events 2015-01-01 through 2024-12-31.Half the homes in Reno County, Kansas were built in 1962 or earlier (2020-2024 ACS 5-year).
U.S. Census Bureau, 2020-2024 American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesReno County, Kansas holds 28,274 housing units (2020-2024 ACS 5-year).
U.S. Census Bureau, 2020-2024 American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesOwners occupy 69.2% of the occupied homes in Reno County, Kansas (2020-2024 ACS 5-year).
U.S. Census Bureau, 2020-2024 American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesCodes & Standards Governing Furnace Repair in Reno County, Kansas4 sourced rules and standards
What Happens When a Contractor Comes Out
Non-weatherized gas furnaces manufactured on or after November 19, 2015 must reach 80.0 percent AFUE.
Non-weatherized oil-fired furnaces manufactured on or after November 19, 2015 must reach 83.0 percent AFUE.
Mobile home gas furnaces manufactured on or after November 19, 2015 must reach 80.0 percent AFUE.
Non-weatherized gas furnaces manufactured on or after December 18, 2028 must reach 95.0 percent AFUE, up from the 80.0 percent minimum that applies to units manufactured before that date.
Severe Weather Events in Reno County
Reno County's weather puts real stress on heating equipment, and that stress shows up as repair calls. Understanding the local weather record is part of understanding why furnaces here work as hard as they do.
265 severe weather events, 2015–2024. Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database.