Oakland County
Furnace Repair in Oak Park, MI
West of the shop, a short run across Nine Mile.
Oak Park is postwar to a degree that few of its neighbours are. The city filled in through the 1950s with brick ranches on wide lots, and a great many are still on their original mechanical footprint: furnace in the same corner of the basement, ductwork in the same runs. That consistency is genuinely useful in winter. Single-storey ranches heat evenly when the system is intact, which means a room that has gone cold in an Oak Park house is usually a real fault rather than a layout quirk you have to live with.
What we run into in Oak Park heating systems
- Single-storey ranches heat evenly compared with the bungalow belt, so a room that is suddenly cold is a real fault rather than a layout quirk.
- Long horizontal trunk lines under a 1950s ranch develop leaks at the seams, which shows up as a furnace that runs constantly without the house getting warmer.
- Original chimney-vented furnaces are common here, and replacing one with a high-efficiency unit means the flue arrangement changes.
Getting someone out
For a no-heat emergency, ring (248) 398-4015 rather than using the form. That line runs 24 hours. Scheduled work, including anything that can wait until the morning, runs Mon–Fri 8am–5pm out of the shop at 1880 E Nine Mile Rd, Ferndale, MI 48220.
It helps to know what you have before anyone arrives. The age of the unit, the brand on the front, and whether it is doing nothing at all or doing something wrong will usually narrow the problem down over the phone.
This page covers what is particular about Oak Park. For how the work itself goes, what tends to fail, and the repair-or-replace question, see furnace repair.
Furnace Repair in Oak Park: questions we get
My Oak Park ranch has the original ductwork. Is that a problem?
Not by itself. Ductwork from the 1950s is often heavy-gauge and in better shape than people expect. What does matter is the seams. Long horizontal trunk lines lose air where sections join, and a system leaking into the basement will run and run without the rooms at the end of the run ever getting warm. That is worth testing before anyone recommends a bigger furnace.
How long does a gas furnace last?
Most residential gas furnaces run fifteen to twenty years. Units that were correctly sized, vented properly, and had their filters changed regularly reach the top of that range and sometimes pass it. Units that were oversized for the house tend to short cycle their whole lives and wear out earlier.
Why does my furnace keep turning on and off?
Short cycling has a handful of usual causes. A filter that has not been changed in a season is the most common and the cheapest. After that, a dirty flame sensor, a failing high-limit switch, a blocked or partly blocked flue, or a furnace that was simply sized too large for the house. The pattern of how long it runs before dropping out narrows it down quickly.