Furnace and heating repair in Fredericksburg.

NOAA’s Fredericksburg station, at 60 feet on the Rappahannock about five miles south-southeast of the middle of 22405 and 22406, spends its winter nights colder than the Quantico air station up the Potomac. Its 1991 to 2020 normals put the average January low at 25 degrees against Quantico’s 28, and count about 100 nights a year at 32 or below against Quantico’s 76, with three or four dropping to 10 or lower. That adds up to about 4,300 heating degree days, and in half of all years the first freezing night has arrived by November 1.

The heat that meets those nights splits about three ways: about 46 percent of owner homes heat with electricity, usually a heat pump, 42 percent with natural gas and about 7 percent with propane. On a 25-degree night a heat pump runs long and brings in its electric backup, and that’s normal. One that never comes off the backup, even on a 45-degree afternoon, is worth a visit.

Propane is mostly a 22406 story, where about one owner home in nine burns it, against about one in twenty in 22405. A propane furnace is the same machine as a gas one with the gas valve and burner set up for propane. If the tank ran empty, the propane company usually has to leak-test the lines before the furnace gets fuel again; once it has, a furnace that still won’t light is ours.

Winter storms add the outages. The January 3, 2022 storm put 6 to 12 inches on the Fredericksburg area, the one that stranded drivers on I-95, and the 2016 blizzard left 15 to 24 inches across Stafford County. When the power goes, a gas or propane furnace goes with it, since its blower, igniter and controls run on electricity. Stafford County Fire and Rescue’s advice for those nights: never run a generator indoors or within 20 feet of the house, never heat with the oven, and keep a working carbon monoxide alarm and smoke alarm on every floor.