Nearly half of the owner homes in ZIP 20129 heat with propane, about 35 percent with electricity and nearly one in five with oil, and natural gas registers at zero. We repair propane and electric heat. Oil burners are the one thing we don’t work on, so you know that before the visit. The usual propane no-heat fixes are small parts: a flame sensor cleaned at $95 to $180 or an igniter at $240 to $410.
The median owner home was built in 1997, so a furnace that came with it is nearly three decades old. That changes the math on the bigger parts. A control board at $550 to $1,180 or a blower motor at $670 to $2,400 on a furnace that age belongs next to the price of replacing it, a furnace alone at $4,285 to $14,040, and the tech lays both out before you choose. About one owner home in three went up since 2000, and a furnace there more often earns the repair.
Winter is long. The Purcellville station records a January average low of 24.5 and more than a hundred freezing nights a year. The cold outbreak of January 23 to 31, 2026 brought Extreme Cold Warnings, with the coldest nights on January 27, 30 and 31. A worn igniter or a coated sensor tends to quit when the furnace is asked to cycle hardest, which is the stretch you can least afford it.
A propane furnace still needs electricity for its blower and igniter, so storms matter. On July 15, 2024, wires and a few poles came down near Clarkes Gap Road and Hurley Lane, and the February 2010 snow left outages countywide. When the furnace is out, check your carbon monoxide alarms. Loudoun County’s fire and rescue system says to keep one outside each sleeping area and on each level, tested monthly. The diagnostic visit is $99.