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Furnace Repair
Serving Beltsville, College Park, Hyattsville and the Surrounding Areas in Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia
- Based in Beltsville, MD
- EPA-certified technicians
- $115 diagnostic, credited on same-visit repairs
- Family owned since 2019
★★★★★ 4.8 Google reviews
Furnace Repair
Why Does My Furnace Turn On and Then Shut Off?
Your furnace turns on and then shuts off because the flame sensor can't confirm the burner lit. It's a thin metal rod sitting in the flame; it picks up a film over a few seasons, and the moment it stops reading fire the furnace closes the gas valve. That's the safety doing its job. It's also one of the quickest fixes we make.
Most no-heat calls in this region land in October, when a furnace that sat idle since April gets asked to run hard overnight. Fortiz HVAC Inc handles furnace repair as part of our full heating services across the DMV, and we find the fault by watching where the startup stops rather than guessing at parts.
- 5 secondsLights, then quits. That timing points straight at the flame sensor.
- $115Our flat diagnostic. It comes off the repair when we finish the same visit.
- 7 stepsA furnace starts in sequence. Wherever it stops is what broke.
- 1 filterThe most common reason a furnace overheats and shuts itself down.
6 Signs Your Furnace Needs Repair
Furnaces give notice before they stop. The sounds change, the cycles shorten, the house takes longer to come up to temperature. Here's what each one is telling you.
It Lights, Then Gives Up After Five Seconds
You hear the burner catch, then silence, then the whole thing tries again. That timing points at the flame sensor nearly every time. It's a thin rod that stops reading fire once a film builds on it, so the furnace shuts the gas down deliberately.
The Fan Runs But the Air Comes Out Cold
Air's moving, so the blower is fine. Either the burners never lit, or a limit switch tripped and cut them while the fan kept going. A failed igniter and restricted airflow are the two usual causes, and they're quick to tell apart.
It Lands With a Thump When It Fires
A small boom on ignition means gas pooled in the burner before something lit it. Delayed ignition gets worse as burners corrode, and the pressure has to go somewhere. It's one of the few furnace faults worth a same-day call.
You Turn the Heat Up and Nothing Happens
No click, no fan, no sound at all. Often that's the pressure switch, held open because the vent outside is packed with leaves or drifted snow. Thermostats, furnace switches and tripped breakers account for most of the rest.
Ten Minutes of Heat, Then It Quits
That's the high-limit switch doing exactly what it should. The furnace is overheating because not enough air is moving across the heat exchanger. Nine times out of ten the cause is a filter nobody has changed since spring.
The Vent Outside Has Iced Over
A high-efficiency furnace exhausts through PVC out a sidewall, and that pipe can frost shut in a hard freeze. The furnace reads the blockage and locks itself out rather than run unsafely. Clearing it is simple once you know to look.
Past fifteen with repairs stacking up? We'll put the repair price next to a furnace installation and replacement quote so you can compare. If airflow is the real problem, ductwork repair is where the fix belongs, and if you're thinking past gas altogether, a heat pump is worth pricing in a climate this mild.
How Much Does Furnace Repair Cost?
Most furnace repairs in the DC area run between about $150 and $600, and bigger jobs like a gas valve or control board can climb toward $1,000. Our diagnostic is $115, or $145 for after-hours calls, and it comes off the bill when we finish the repair on the same visit. You'll see the price in writing before any work starts, and financing through Wisetack is there for bigger repairs.
What We Fix, and the One Thing We Can't
A Cracked Heat Exchanger Is Where We Stop
Igniters, flame sensors, pressure switches, blower motors, control boards, gas valves. Those are parts. Parts get replaced, usually the same day, and the furnace goes back to work.
A cracked heat exchanger isn't a part. It's the metal wall keeping the burner flame separate from the air moving through your house. A crack lets combustion gases cross into that air, and there's no patch, sleeve or sealant that makes it safe again.
So it's the one finding where we won't offer you a workaround, because there isn't one. We take the furnace out of service, show you what we found, and talk through replacement from there.
Why Does the First Visit Usually Fix It?
We Let the Furnace Show Us Where It Stopped
A furnace starts in a fixed order.
Call for heat, inducer, pressure switch, igniter, gas valve, flame sense, blower. Each step has to finish before the next one starts, so whichever one fails is the one holding the answer. We watch it try before we touch anything.
We check the cheap things first.
A filmed flame sensor, a clogged filter, a blocked condensate trap, a vent packed with snow. Those four account for a big share of no-heat calls, and finding one ends the visit in twenty minutes instead of with a quote.
The same team, every time.
EPA 608 certified technicians with NATE certification on the team, based in Beltsville and family owned since 2019. Whoever fixes it is who you'll get back if it ever needs a second look.
From Cold House to Warm One
Booking a furnace repair starts with one phone call and usually ends on the same visit. Here's how it goes.
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Step 1: Tell Us What It's Doing
Someone who works on furnaces picks up. Does it light and quit, blow cold, or do nothing at all? That answer alone usually narrows it before anyone leaves.
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Step 2: We Watch It Try
The technician calls for heat and follows the startup through. Where it stops names the part. Pressure, flame signal and temperature rise get measured, not assumed.
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Step 3: You See the Number First
You get the fault in plain words and the fix as a line item. Nothing's opened, ordered or replaced until you've agreed to the price.
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Step 4: Fixed, Then Watched
We make the repair, then run a full cycle and check temperature rise, flame signal and a clean shutdown before we pack up.
No Heat Tonight? Call Us Before You Layer Up.
We Hold Slots Open Through Heating Season
Ring us and tell us there's no heat. Through winter we keep capacity back specifically for those calls, because a cold house in January isn't a next-week problem. Our technicians work across DC, Maryland and Northern Virginia, and after-hours calls run at the $145 rate.
Snap a Photo of the Panel Sticker
Open the furnace door and there's a label with the make, model and serial. Send us that when you book and we can often have the part on the truck before we arrive.
Try the Filter First, Honestly
If it ran ten minutes and quit, pull the filter and look at it. If daylight doesn't come through, that might be your whole problem, and we'd rather tell you that than charge you to find it.
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Where We Handle Furnace Repair
Our technicians head out from Beltsville all winter. Same diagnostic, same pricing, whichever side of the river you’re on. Not on the list? Call anyway, because the map runs wider than the names below.
- Georgetown
- Capitol Hill
- Dupont Circle
- Columbia Heights
- Petworth
- Brookland
- Beltsville
- College Park
- Greenbelt
- Hyattsville
- Laurel
- Silver Spring
- Bethesda
- Rockville
- Arlington
- McLean
- Falls Church
- Tysons
Furnace Repair FAQs
Your furnace turns on then shuts off after a few seconds because the flame sensor can't read the flame. A film builds on the rod over a season or two, the furnace stops seeing fire, and it closes the gas valve. Cleaning it is a quick fix.
Your furnace blows cold air when the blower runs but the burners don't. Common causes are a failed igniter, a limit switch tripped by restricted airflow, or a pressure switch that won't close because the vent is blocked. A technician separates those in minutes.
A cracked heat exchanger can't be repaired. It's the metal wall between the burner flame and the air circulating through your house, and a crack lets combustion gases cross into that air. The furnace comes out of service and gets a manufacturer part or a replacement.
Your furnace won't turn on at all usually because of the thermostat, the furnace switch, the breaker, or a pressure switch held open by a blocked vent. Sidewall vents packed with snow or leaves are a common winter culprit around here. A failed igniter is the other likely one.
We can usually repair a furnace the same day. Igniters, flame sensors, capacitors, contactors and pressure switches ride on the truck, so most calls finish on the first visit. Boards and gas valves sometimes need ordering, and we'll tell you that on the day.
We repair furnaces in rentals and commercial buildings across the DMV, including property management portfolios and multi-unit properties. Tenant access and building rules change the scheduling rather than the work, so we plan around them.