Furnace Repair in Ypsilanti and Southeast Michigan

A gas furnace in Southeast Michigan runs for about seven months of the year and logs well over 6,000 heating degree days doing it, which means the parts that wear out do so in a predictable order. Hot-surface ignitors crack after a few thousand cycles. Flame sensors coat over with a layer of oxide and the furnace lights, runs four seconds and shuts down. Inducer motors lose their bearings and scream. Pressure switches stick when a condensate trap clogs or a vent fills with ice. Blower motors and their capacitors give out. Control boards fail from power surges. Temprasure has repaired every one of these on every brand of furnace in Washtenaw and western Wayne County, and the truck carries the ignitors, sensors, switches, capacitors, motors and boards that cover the great majority of calls.

We work on 80 percent and 90-plus percent furnaces alike: the single-stage Carrier, Bryant, Lennox, Trane, Goodman, Amana, Rheem, Ruud, York, Payne, Armstrong, Comfortmaker and Tempstar units in most basements around here, the two-stage and variable-speed models in newer subdivisions, and the older standing-pilot furnaces still heating a surprising number of 1950s ranches in Westland and Ypsilanti Township. The diagnosis is the same regardless of the nameplate. We read the diagnostic LED, check gas pressure with a manometer, test the ignitor's resistance, read the flame sensor's microamps, confirm the inducer is pulling the pressure switch closed, measure static pressure and temperature rise across the heat exchanger, and look at the exchanger itself for cracks and rust-through.

That last step matters more than any other. A cracked heat exchanger on an aging furnace lets flue gases, including carbon monoxide, into the air the blower is pushing through the house. On furnaces past about 20 years, especially 80 percent units that have run with a restricted filter for years, it is common enough that we inspect for it on every repair visit, not just when the CO alarm goes off. If we find a crack, we show it to you, and the repair conversation becomes a replacement conversation, because a new heat exchanger on an old furnace rarely makes financial sense. If the exchanger is sound, we fix whatever actually failed and tell you so.

Our reviews are full of two things: same-day service when other shops quoted a week, and honest repair-over-replace calls. Al has told more than one homeowner that the furnace another company condemned needed a flame sensor cleaning and a new ignitor, not a new furnace, and we are not shy about encouraging a second opinion on any replacement quote, including our own. Repairs are quoted as a flat rate before the work starts, the dispatch fee that covers the trip and diagnosis is credited toward the repair, and nights, weekends and holidays are billed at the same rate as a weekday morning. We are open 24 hours because furnaces do not fail at convenient times.