Most heating guides are written for the flatlands: change the filter, schedule a tune-up, you're set.
That's fine advice for someone living at 1,000 feet. But at 6,000 feet, it's incomplete. Furnaces in the Pikes Peak area, including Colorado Springs, Monument, and Woodland Park, operate in conditions they weren’t designed for out of the box. The air is thinner, the temperature swings are sharper, and the winters don't ease in gradually. They arrive fast, sometimes overnight. A system that ran fine through September can fail in its first real test of the season.
“Our climate puts a different kind of stress on HVAC systems,” says Dale Chason, HVAC Manager at Awesome Home Services. “At this elevation, small issues that might go unnoticed elsewhere can turn into full no-heat calls as soon as temperatures drop.”
The calls we get most often in late October and November are not random. They are the same handful of problems, on the same types of systems, in the same situations. Almost all of them were preventable.
If you've been meaning to get your system assessed before winter, read on to learn what we recommend you check.
Contact us at (719) 800-7121 to book your pre-season inspection with Awesome Home Services before the rush.
The Part That Fails First at This Elevation
Altitude affects combustion. Thinner air means less oxygen for the fuel-to-air mix your furnace needs to ignite cleanly. When that ratio is off, the pressure switch catches this and shuts down the system.
The pressure switch monitors airflow through the heat exchanger and venting. At sea level, it works as designed. At 6,000 feet, if your system hasn't been adjusted for the elevation, the pressure switch reads the airflow as wrong and shuts the furnace down. We call that a pressure switch lockout.
"The biggest issue we see at altitude is furnaces that were never properly adjusted for thinner air," Chason says. "Pressure switch lockouts are the most common no-heat call we get on that first cold night of the season, and usually the warning signs were there weeks earlier."
The fix, when we catch it before winter, takes around an hour. The fix at 10 p.m. on a December night costs more and takes longer because everyone else's furnace went out, too.
The adjustment is called derating. It matches the fuel delivery to the oxygen available at your altitude. Many older furnaces have never been derated. Some newer ones get installed without this step. If you don't know whether yours has been done, assume it hasn't.
Why Two-Stage Systems Hold Up Better Here
Across the work we do in this region, two-stage and high-efficiency furnaces represent a large share of the installations we see, and there's a reason for that pattern. Single-stage units cycle on and off more frequently, which puts more wear on the system and produces less evenly distributed heat.
Two-stage furnaces run longer at lower output before they kick to full strength.
"A furnace that holds a steady operating cycle holds up better in Colorado Springs," Chason says. "Two-stage systems handle the temperature swings we get here without constantly ramping up and shutting down. That cycling is what wears a single-stage unit out."
A high-efficiency unit, 96% AFUE or better, also gets more out of every unit of fuel. That matters more here, where the system is already working against thinner air.
If your furnace is from the late 1980s or early 1990s, watch for two things. The heat exchanger on older units can crack after a while, which is a safety issue as well as an efficiency one. Pilot light systems are also more likely to have trouble with the pressure and combustion changes that elevation creates.
These aren't reasons to panic. But they are reasons to have someone look at the unit before winter.
Dry Air Costs You More Than You Think
Colorado Springs is high desert. The winters here are cold and dry, and dry air feels colder than it is.
"People are often surprised how much indoor humidity affects comfort in winter," Chason says. "When the air is too dry, you raise the thermostat to compensate. That puts more demand on a furnace that's already working against thinner air."
A functioning whole-home humidifier lets you feel comfortable at a lower setting. The problem is that most people don't touch the humidifier until it stops working, usually in December.
Two things go wrong with humidifiers most often. The evaporator pad builds up mineral deposits and blocks water flow. The solenoid valve, which controls water into the unit, fails either by not letting water in or by not shutting it off.
Before you turn the heat on for the season, pull the panel. Check the pad. Make sure water is running through the system. It takes ten minutes and saves a service call.
When the Furnace Stops and There's No Error Code
High-efficiency furnaces produce condensate as a byproduct of combustion. That water drains through a line to a floor drain or gets pumped out. In a lot of homes around here, those lines run through crawlspaces or along exterior walls.
When the condensate line freezes, water backs up and the furnace shuts itself off. No error code that says "frozen line." It just stops. If this has happened to you and you didn't know why, that's likely what it was.
“We see frozen condensate lines every winter once the hard freezes start,” Chason says. “The homeowner thinks the furnace failed mechanically, but in reality, the system shut itself down to prevent water damage.”
The condensate pump also needs attention. Debris, algae, and mineral buildup can foul the float switch and make the pump run continuously without moving water. Before winter, make sure the pump is clean and the float moves freely.
What to Check Before the First Hard Freeze
The following are the six things we look at on every pre-season inspection in this area. You can check some of them yourself. Others need a technician.
Pressure switch and altitude settings. Make sure your system is reading airflow correctly for your elevation. If it's using sea-level settings, this is the most likely thing to fail first.
Combustion analysis. We check the fuel-to-air ratio and adjust it for your altitude. Most basic tune-ups skip this. It's not the same as changing a filter.
Igniter and flame sensor. These two parts cause a high percentage of no-heat calls in late fall. They're inexpensive to service now. They're less convenient to deal with at 10 p.m. in December.
Humidifier service. Change the evaporator pad. Confirm the solenoid valve opens and closes. This takes about 15 minutes.
Filter. Yes, this one too. A restricted filter limits the airflow your system needs to operate correctly at elevation. It's the easiest check on this list.
Condensate system. Insulate any drain lines running through unheated spaces. Clean the pump and confirm the float switch moves freely.
“Most winter furnace emergencies we respond to started as maintenance issues that could have been caught during a fall inspection,” Chason says. “The goal is to identify the weak points before your furnace is depending on them during the coldest week of the year.”
One more thing: our fall schedule fills up quickly once temperatures drop. If you book in September or early October, you get a faster appointment, which means you're ready before the season starts. If you wait until the system stops working, you'll be in line with every other household in the same situation.
Book Before It Gets Cold
The problems above show up every year. Pressure switch lockouts, frozen condensate lines, fouled humidifier pads. We see them in November and December on systems that were working fine in September.
Most of them are preventable with an inspection.
Call (719) 800-7121 or schedule online to book your pre-season HVAC check with Awesome Home Services. We cover Colorado Springs and the surrounding areas, and we show up ready to solve the problem in a single visit.
