Clifton is really two things sharing a zip code. The historic Town of Clifton is a few blocks of nineteenth century buildings with its own town government. The rest of 20124 is southwestern Fairfax County: 1980s subdivisions off Springstone Drive and Union Mill Road on county sewer, then houses on five to ten acres with long driveways, wells and septic systems, and a fair number of properties where natural gas service does not reach the road.
Both halves need the same thing from a heating contractor, which is somebody who asks what fuel you burn before quoting anything.
What heats a Clifton house
Propane, where gas does not reach. A tank in the yard feeding a furnace that is otherwise identical to a natural gas one. Your fuel price moves with your supplier rather than a utility rate, and the natural gas rebate programs do not apply to you.
Heat pumps, on all-electric properties, usually with electric backup heat and sometimes with a propane furnace as the backup in a dual fuel setup.
Natural gas furnaces where the line does reach, which is more of the subdivision streets than the outlying properties.
Oil, still, on about one in ten of the large-lot properties, about as many as burn propane. It is a declining share, and oil burners are one thing we don’t work on, so a working one stays with an oil burner service company. When an oil system reaches the end the conversation is usually about converting rather than replacing like for like, and a heat pump or a propane furnace is ours to price.
What heating oil costs this winter, what Virginia requires when you stop using the tank, and what each switch costs are in our heating oil guide.
Boilers are rare here. Most of this housing is newer than the radiator era.
Common Heating System Failures and Repair Diagnostics
It lights, runs a few seconds, shuts off, retries. Flame sensor, $95 to $180 to clean, and the most common no-heat call anywhere regardless of fuel.
Clicking, no flame. Hot surface igniter, $240 to $410.
Runs fifteen minutes and shuts down. Overheating on restricted airflow. Filter first, then the blower wheel at $300 to $440. On a larger house with long duct runs this arrives sooner than it would in a small one.
Water near a high efficiency furnace, or one that will not start. Condensate trap, $175 to $420. The furnace shuts itself off on purpose when it cannot drain.
Heat pump iced over and staying that way. Frost on a damp 35 degree day is normal. A block of ice at noon is not, and it is usually the defrost board at $450 to $1,150.
Aux heat running in mild weather. The electric strips are carrying the load, which is the most expensive way to heat a house in Virginia. Worth diagnosing before the bill arrives.
- Diagnostic visit: about $99.
- Flame sensor cleaned $95 to $180; igniter or sensor replaced $240 to $410.
- Condensate drain or trap $175 to $420. Thermostat $300 to $640.
- Blower wheel cleaned $300 to $440. Blower motor $670 to $2,400.
- Control board $550 to $1,180. Heat pump defrost board $450 to $1,150.
- Cracked heat exchanger: not a repair at any price. Here is why.
The thing that matters most out here: a power outage
Large lots on rural roads lose power more often and get it back later than a townhouse street in Fairfax City. That has two consequences for heat.
A gas or propane furnace still needs electricity for its board, inducer and blower, so it stops when the power does. An all-electric heat pump obviously does. If you have a generator, make sure the furnace circuit is actually on it, because plenty of installations cover the refrigerator and the well pump and skip the heat.
And if you are on a well, no power also means no water, which is the one that catches people out during a February ice storm. Worth thinking about together rather than separately.
Replacing, and the propane question
A furnace alone runs $4,285 to $14,040 installed; a furnace and air conditioner together $8,898 to $23,000 by system size. The estimator prices it by size in about two minutes.
From about $71 a month at 0% APR for 60 months, the whole price financed, on approved credit. How financing works
If you are on propane, the efficiency step up is usually worth more to you than it would be to a natural gas customer, because propane generally costs more per unit of heat. What you do not get is the Washington Gas rebate, which is limited to its natural gas customers, so the payback comes from the fuel saving alone. Ask for both efficiency tiers priced, and run the math against your own delivered propane cost rather than a generic number.
If you are all-electric and thinking about a heat pump, check who sends your electric bill before signing anything. The county’s map puts nearly all of Clifton on NOVEC, not Dominion, so Dominion’s Home Energy Evaluation and its heat pump rebates apply only if Dominion is your utility.
October list
Run the heat for an hour. Check the propane level before the first cold week rather than after it. Confirm your generator actually covers the furnace circuit. Change the filter. Clear leaves from around and under any heat pump outdoor unit. And put a carbon monoxide alarm on every sleeping floor, because Virginia requires them in new construction with fuel burning appliances and has no retrofit rule for existing houses.
See your price, or book the $67 check
What a replacement costs in your house. Answer a few questions and see the installed price for your size: the furnace estimator for a gas furnace (from $4,285) and the heating and cooling estimator for a heat pump or a furnace and AC together (from $8,499). From about $71 a month at 0% APR for 60 months, the whole price financed, on approved credit. Each one lets you book a free in-home measurement.
Get it checked before the cold. The $67 Heating Check covers one furnace or heat pump, through December 31. If you also want the blower wheel pulled and cleaned with a full tune-up, that is $229.
SwiftPro services heating systems across Clifton and southwestern Fairfax County. Call (703) 997-9757, book online, or start at the Fairfax County heating repair page.
Prices and booking for furnace repair in Clifton are on our Clifton furnace repair page.
Every Northern Virginia town wears out a little differently. See how the towns compare in our town-by-town guide.
Watch our techs on real furnace jobs
Real jobs in Northern Virginia homes, filmed by our own crew. Tap one to watch.
