Serving St. Louis & Surrounding Areas
Furnace Repair Near Queen of All Saints in Oakville, MO
Furnace repair near Queen of All Saints starts the same way every year. It’s the first cold morning in October or November. Half the street turns the heat on for the first time since March. And a few of those furnaces don’t want to wake up.
That’s when people around Christopher Drive and Dacia Lane call us. Liberty Heating Cooling and Plumbing is Sam Marsala’s company, and Sam’s been fixing furnaces since 1998. Our shop’s off Telegraph Road, about eight minutes from the church.
The First Cold Morning Near Queen of All Saints
A furnace sits there all summer doing nothing. Dust settles on the burners. A filter that was already tired in March is still in there. Then one morning it’s 38 degrees out and the thermostat asks it to run for the first time in seven months.
Most of them fire right up. Some don’t. And the ones that don’t usually have one of a few small problems, not a big one.
Before you call, flip the thermostat from “cool” to “heat.” Sounds silly. It’s one of the most common calls we get in October, because the thermostat is still set the way it was all summer.
That Burning Smell When the Heat First Comes On
The first time a furnace runs in the fall, you’ll probably smell something like burning dust. That’s exactly what it is. Dust that sat on the heat exchanger all summer is burning off.
First run or two, that’s normal, and give it an hour and it’s gone. But if it’s still there after that, or it smells like melting plastic, hot wires or rotten eggs, shut it off and call. That’s not dust. And don’t wait on it till morning, either.
A Dirty Filter Can Stop the Whole Furnace
People think a dirty filter just means dusty air. It’s worse than that. When it’s packed solid, air can’t get through. The furnace cooks. Then a safety switch kills the burners.
Then it cools off, lights again, overheats again, and shuts down again. The house never warms up. We see that a lot in the fall, because nobody thinks about the filter until the heat is needed.
Check yours. Slide it out and hold it up to a light. If you can’t see light through it, put a new one in before you do anything else.
Two Parts That Wear Out First
If the thermostat and filter are fine, and the furnace still won’t heat, two parts get blamed more than anything else. They’re both small, and they’re both near the burners.
The first is the igniter. It’s a little piece that glows bright orange to light the gas, and every time it heats up it gets a tiny bit weaker. One fall it just doesn’t get hot enough, or it cracks. The furnace clicks and hums and never lights.
The second is the flame sensor. It’s a thin metal rod that sits in the flame and tells the furnace “yes, there’s fire.” When it gets coated with grime, it can’t tell. So the furnace lights for a few seconds and then shuts the gas back off.
A flame sensor can often be cleaned. A cracked igniter gets replaced. Either one is usually a short visit, and you get the price before we do the work. For the full list of what each symptom usually means, see our main page on furnace repair in Oakville and St. Louis.
Furnace Repair Near Queen of All Saints After a New Thermostat
This one catches a lot of people. You put in a new smart thermostat over the summer. It worked fine for the air conditioner. Then fall comes and there’s no heat.
Usually it’s the wiring. Some smart thermostats need a wire that the old one didn’t use, and some get hooked up with the heat wire on the wrong spot. The thermostat looks happy. The furnace never gets the call.
We’ll pull it off the wall and check. If it’s wired wrong, we fix it. If the thermostat is fine and the furnace isn’t, we go downstairs and find out why.
What Happens When Sam Comes Out
Here’s how a furnace call near the church usually goes:
- You call. Sam asks what it’s doing, how old it is, and when it last ran right.
- He’ll tell you what he thinks it is before he gets there, if he can.
- At your house, he checks the thermostat, filter, power and gas first.
- Then the burner area. Igniter, flame sensor, safety switches, the control board.
- You get the price before any part goes in.
- He runs it a full cycle after, so you know it’s heating before he leaves.
Boxes, Laundry and Paint Cans Around the Furnace
A lot of basements around the church double as storage. That’s fine. Just not right up against the furnace.
A furnace needs air to burn. It pulls it from the room around it. Pile boxes against it, stack laundry on the return, park the paint cans and the gas can for the mower next to it, and you’ve got a furnace that can’t breathe and stuff that shouldn’t be near a flame.
Give it a couple of feet of clear space on every side you can. It runs better, and when Sam shows up he can get the panel off without moving your Christmas decorations first.
Is an Older Furnace Worth Fixing?
Plenty of furnaces near Queen of All Saints have been in there 20 years or more. Most of the time, a worn igniter or a dirty sensor on an old furnace is still worth fixing. It’s a small part.
Where it changes is the big stuff. A bad heat exchanger or a dead control board on a furnace that’s already had a few repairs. Then Sam will tell you straight whether he’d put money into it or not.
Getting Ready Before the Cold Hits
You don’t have to wait for it to break. Turn the heat on for a few minutes in late September, while it’s still nice out. If it lights and blows warm air, great. If it doesn’t, you found out on a 70 degree day instead of a 30 degree one.
Throw a new filter in too. The rest of the basics are on ENERGY STAR’s heating and cooling maintenance checklist, and it’s short.
Driving Directions From Our Shop to Queen of All Saints
Our shop is at 3236 Ridgetop View Drive in Oakville. Queen of All Saints is about 3.6 miles north, around eight minutes.
- Take Ridgetop View Drive out to Telegraph Road.
- Turn right, heading north on Telegraph Road.
- Stay on Telegraph Road for about two and a half miles.
- Turn right onto Christopher Drive. The church is at 6603 Christopher Drive, by Dacia Lane.
We’re up and down Telegraph Road all winter.
Get directions from our shop to Queen of All Saints on Google Maps
Frequently Asked Questions
What Would Cause a Furnace to Not Kick On?
Most of the time it’s dumb stuff, the thermostat’s still on cool, the batteries died, the breaker tripped, or somebody hit the furnace switch thinking it was a light. If none of that’s it, you’re probably looking at a worn igniter, a dirty flame sensor or a safety switch cutting it off, and that’s when you call us.
How Do I Reset My Furnace?
Turn the thermostat down, kill the furnace switch or the breaker, count to sixty, flip it back on, then turn the heat back up. Do that one time, because if it quits again right after, hitting reset ten more times won’t fix the bad part and can make it worse.
Is There a Reset Button on My Furnace?
Usually not a big red one, not on newer gas furnaces, you just cut the power for a minute and that’s your reset. A few have a little button on the blower motor or a rollout switch up by the burners, and if one of those popped, it popped for a reason, so call before you push it.
What Fails First on a Furnace?
On most gas furnaces, the first parts to go are the igniter and the flame sensor, since they sit right in the heat and wear a little every time the burners light. A dirty filter isn’t a broken part, but it causes a lot of shutdowns too, and it’s the easiest thing to rule out on your own.
Call Sam for Furnace Repair Near Queen of All Saints
Looking for furnace repair near Queen of All Saints? Call Sam at Liberty Heating Cooling and Plumbing. He’s been fixing furnaces since 1998, our shop is eight minutes away on Telegraph Road, and he’ll tell you the price before any part goes in. Call us at (314) 600-2202 and get your heat back on.