Furnace Repair in Cambridge, Ontario

Cambridge's three old town cores and its newer subdivisions produce different furnace problems. Knowing which part of the city you're in tells us where to look first.

Galt, Preston and Hespeler cores. Many older homes here have been converted from other heating systems over the decades, and the ductwork shows it. Upper floors often have one small duct per room and no return. A modern furnace pushing through that system tends to overheat and shut itself off on its high-limit switch, so you get short bursts of heat and a cold second floor. We also see old chimneys still venting a water heater after the furnace moved to plastic side-wall venting, which needs checking for safe draft.

Postwar and 1970s-80s areas. In East Galt, Silver Heights and similar neighbourhoods, most homes are on a second or third furnace. Common repairs are blower motors, capacitors, igniters and flame sensors, plus problems from long-neglected filters.

Fiddlesticks, newer Hespeler and other 1990s-2010s subdivisions. Original builder-grade furnaces here are reaching the age when inducer motors, pressure switches and control boards start to fail. A furnace that tries to start, hums, then gives up is a classic sign.

Before you book heating repair in Cambridge, check:

• Thermostat: on Heat, set above room temperature, fresh batteries.
• Power: furnace switch on, breaker not tripped.
• Filter: replace it if it's dirty. A clogged filter is one of the most common reasons a furnace shuts down on a cold night.
• Vent pipes: if your furnace vents out the side of the house, clear any snow or ice from the two plastic pipes. Homes in low spots near the Grand and Speed rivers can see heavy frost build-up on still nights.
• Water: pooling water around the furnace usually means a blocked condensate drain or pump.

If you smell gas, leave the house and call Enbridge Gas from outside.

Repair is usually right when the furnace is under about 15 years old and one part has failed. Replacement is worth considering when the furnace is close to 20, needs a major part, and has needed other repairs lately. We'll tell you which way we'd go and why.

If you're leaning toward replacement, our furnace installation service in Cambridge covers venting changes and sizing in older homes, and the furnace replacement cost guide shows typical price ranges in the region. Your quote depends on the furnace, venting and ductwork.

A red tag from another company means a gas technician found an unsafe condition. Read our red-tagged furnace guide before deciding anything.

Furnaces in Cambridge tend to fail on the first cold night of the season, after sitting idle all summer, or in a long January cold snap when they run almost constantly.

A fall tune-up finds most weak parts before then. We clean the flame sensor, test the igniter, inducer and blower, check the heat exchanger and clear the condensate drain. In older Galt and Preston homes, we also check that any water heater still using the chimney is venting safely, since that changes once the furnace moved to plastic venting.

We repair furnaces in Galt, East Galt, West Galt, Preston, Hespeler, Blair, Fiddlesticks, Silver Heights, Saginaw and the rest of the city. We're a TSSA-registered contractor with licensed gas technicians. We install Lennox and York, and we repair all the common brands found in Cambridge homes.

See our furnace repair service page for how a visit works, or our Cambridge HVAC page for everything else we do in the city. When summer comes, we also handle AC repair in Cambridge.