Wixom, Michigan
Furnace Repair in Wixom, Michigan
Wixom grew up around the Ford plant. So did a lot of its housing, and those homes are now at the age where furnaces need real decisions made about them.
Quick answer
Kern Mechanical repairs furnaces across Wixom, from the older neighborhoods to the newest development. We are next door in Milford. Call 248-714-6563. No-heat calls go to the front of the queue during business hours, Monday through Saturday, 7:30 AM to 5:00 PM. We service every major furnace brand, and you will have the diagnosis and the price before any work starts.
A town the plant built
Wixom had about fifteen hundred people in 1960. The Ford Wixom Assembly Plant opened in 1957 and ran until 2007, and the town grew around it — more than tripling through the 1970s alone.
That history is in the housing. A large share of Wixom's homes went up between the late 1950s and the 1980s: sensible, well-built, modest in footprint. Good houses. They are also now at the age where the original ductwork has outlived two or three furnaces, and where the question stops being what broke and becomes what this system is actually capable of.
And the new Wixom
The plant is gone and the city has been rebuilding, including around the Village Center. The newest housing here has the modern problem list instead — condensing furnaces, PVC venting that ices over in a hard freeze, condensate lines that freeze and trip a safety, and pressure switches doing their job at the worst possible moment.
What we usually find in the older neighborhoods
Original trunk lines sized for a furnace from two generations ago. Returns that were adequate before the basement was finished. Registers added to converted spaces without anyone recalculating the airflow.
None of that means you need a new furnace. It does mean a proper diagnosis is worth more than a fast quote.
Repair or replace in a 1960s to 1980s Wixom home
If your house went up during the plant years, there is a fair chance the furnace in the basement is the third or fourth one it has had. That changes the question. A twenty-year-old furnace in a forty-year-old duct system is not the same decision as a twenty-year-old furnace in a house built around it. Before anyone talks about replacement, we look at what the ductwork can actually deliver. Sometimes a repair plus a few airflow corrections gives you another five or six good winters. Sometimes the honest answer is that a new furnace bolted onto the old trunk line will never heat the back bedroom, and the ductwork needs attention either way.
The rough rule we use: under ten years old, repair it. Past fifteen to twenty, with a repair approaching a third of the cost of a new system, replacement usually wins. Our furnace repair or replace guide walks through the math in more detail, and when replacement is the right call, our furnace installation page explains how we size a new system to the house rather than to the old furnace.
Finished basements and the return air problem
A lot of Wixom basements have been finished since the houses were built, and that is where we find one of the most common hidden problems. The furnace used to draw return air from an open basement. Then the walls went up, the ceiling went in, and nobody added a proper return. The furnace ends up starved for air, runs hot, trips its high-limit switch, and short cycles. It looks like a furnace problem. It is an airflow problem, and it is usually fixable without new equipment. If your furnace turns on and off every few minutes, our article on furnace short cycling covers the other causes too.
What we check before we quote anything
On a Wixom no-heat call we check the ignition sequence, flame sensor, limit and pressure switches, the blower and its motor, the filter and return air path, the venting, and the heat exchanger. On newer condensing furnaces we also look at the condensate trap and drain and at the PVC intake and exhaust outside. You get the diagnosis and the price before any work starts, and if the furnace is worth repairing, we repair it.
Common furnace faults
Our main furnace repair page walks through the eight problems we see most.
Frequently Asked Questions
My house is from the seventies. Is the furnace still worth repairing?
Very often yes. The age of the house says almost nothing on its own. What matters is the furnace's condition, the repair in front of you, and whether the ductwork can support what is there.
Could my ductwork be the problem rather than the furnace?
In houses of that era, frequently. A furnace that cannot move the air it produces will short-cycle, overheat and shut down on a safety, and it will do that with a brand-new furnace too. It is measurable, and it is worth measuring before anybody spends money.
Do you work in the newer developments as well?
Yes, across the whole city.
How far away are you?
We are in Milford, next door.
My high-efficiency furnace shut itself off during the cold snap. What was that?
Most often the intake or exhaust icing over, or a condensate line freezing and tripping a safety. The furnace is doing what it is designed to do. It still needs looking at before it happens again.
How fast can you get out on a no-heat call?
No-heat calls go to the front of the queue. Call 248-714-6563 during business hours — Monday through Saturday, 7:30 AM to 5:00 PM.
Do you charge for a quote?
No. Quotes are always free, and you will have the price before anything starts.
My Wixom house has a finished basement and the furnace keeps shutting off. Why?
When a basement is finished without adding a proper return, the furnace can be starved for air. It overheats, the high-limit switch shuts it off, and it short cycles. Adding or enlarging a return usually fixes it without replacing the furnace.
Emergency service available
Heat out? Cooling down? Call us now.
Whether it is a planned replacement or an emergency HVAC repair, Kern Mechanical is available to handle all of your heating, cooling, and ventilation needs.