Furnace and heating repair in Clifton.
Furnace and heat pump repair in Clifton, 20124, on natural gas, propane or electricity, priced from the book before a panel comes off.
The diagnostic visit is $99, and a flame sensor cleaned is $95 to $180 from our published price book.
- Prices in writing, first
- Furnaces, heat pumps and boilers
- Dedicated HVAC team
Get your heating repair priced
Clifton heats with four fuels, and your road decides which one.
Ask a Clifton house what it burns and you can get four answers. In the Census tract around the town, about half the owner homes heat with electricity, a quarter with natural gas, one in ten with oil and one in ten with propane. Across Fairfax County, oil and propane each heat fewer than two homes in a hundred. In the 1980s subdivisions around Springstone Drive it looks like the rest of the county again: about 85 percent natural gas.
Propane burns in the same furnace a natural gas house has, converted with smaller orifices, so the repairs are the familiar ones: a flame sensor, an igniter, an inducer motor. The difference is the supply. A tank running low lets the burners light weak or not at all, and once a supplier refills an empty tank the system usually needs a leak check before anyone relights it. If the gauge on the tank reads near empty, call the supplier first.
Oil comes with a groundwater question out here. Off the subdivision streets Clifton draws from private wells, and the county Health Department lists leaking fuel oil tanks among the ways well water gets contaminated, so have a tank company look at the tank and its supply line. The Town’s plan adds that oil spills are reported to the Virginia DEQ office in Woodbridge. When an oil burner reaches the end, the usual replacement is a heat pump on the existing ductwork or a propane furnace; a furnace alone runs $4,285 to $14,040 installed.
Replacing a gas or propane furnace takes a Fairfax County permit even like for like, because Virginia’s code exempts only appliances that burn neither gas nor oil, and it comes with a chimney vent certification. Inside the town line the Town signs off before the county takes the application. And if you’re weighing a ground-source heat pump on a big lot, its loop wells need their own Health Department permit and a licensed well provider.
Clifton houses, by the numbers
From the Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 survey. Median year built and heat count owner-occupied homes only.
The Fairfax County side of 20124
Clifton mail outside the town: five- to ten-acre lots in the Occoquan watershed on Clifton, Compton and Yates Ford Roads, mostly on septic, and the 1980s subdivisions off Springstone Drive and Union Mill Road on county sewer.
ZIP 20124 as a whole, the Town included: its own homes are too few for steady Census figures.
- Median home built1988 Census
- Built before 1980about 1 in 10 Census
- Built since 2000about 1 in 10 Census
- Most homes aresingle-family houses, about 8 in 10 Census
- Heated withgas, about 6 in 10 Census
- Rentedabout 1 in 10 Census
- Most heat here is a gas furnace, so most calls come down to the flame sensor, the igniter, the inducer motor or a pressure switch.
- A few houses still burn heating oil. We don’t work on oil burners, but a switch to a heat pump or a gas or propane furnace is ours to price.
What furnace repair costs in Clifton.
The same price book as the rest of our site. The diagnostic visit is $99, and the tech prices the repair before starting it.
- Flame sensor cleaned$95 to $180
- Igniter or flame sensor replaced$240 to $410
- Blower wheel pulled and cleaned$300 to $440
- Thermostat replaced$300 to $640
- Control board$550 to $1,180
- Blower motor$670 to $2,400
- Repair diagnostic visit$99
Often same-day, and we will tell you honestly when we can get there.
With Comfort+ membership, $20 a month or $199 a year, the diagnostic visit is included, any service is 15% off, and a heating maintenance visit comes every fall.
What a failing furnace in Clifton usually does.
The heat pump is a block of ice
A heat pump frosts over in cold, wet weather and clears itself with a short defrost cycle, sometimes in a cloud of steam. A coil that stays caked in ice, with the backup heat carrying the house for hours, needs a repair visit. About half the owner homes in the Census tract around the town heat with electricity, which out here usually means a heat pump.
It lights, then shuts off
The burners fire and go out a few seconds later, over and over. That’s usually a dirty flame sensor, and cleaning it takes about ten minutes.
It won’t light at all
No glow, no flame. A cracked igniter is the usual part, and on a high-efficiency furnace a clogged condensate line can stop it cold too.
What the county says about your heat in Clifton.
Town of Clifton
Fire and rescue in the town comes from Fairfax County’s Station 16 on Chapel Road, and the county’s heating advice applies on every fuel: a professional cleaning and check once a year, and three feet of clear space around the furnace and the water heater. Source.
The county’s carbon monoxide program covers town residents: an alarm on every floor, gas appliances inspected each fall, and a limited supply of alarms for residents who need one, put up by the local station, which for the town is Station 16. Source.
How to pick the best furnace repair company in Clifton.
Questions worth asking anybody who comes out, us included.
Do their techs work across all four fuels?
We work on the gas and propane furnaces and the heat pumps, not oil burners. In 20124 a no-heat call can land on a natural gas furnace, a propane one, an oil burner or a heat pump, and some houses have two of those, so whoever you call, ask before anyone drives out whether the tech who’s coming knows yours.
Will they price the part before they fix it?
Flame sensors, igniters and control boards all have a going rate. A tech who can’t tell you the number before starting is asking you to find out afterwards.
Do they look at the venting, not just the flame?
Getting the burners lit is half a heating call. Ask whether they check the flue and test for carbon monoxide while the panel’s open.
Do they know when a repair isn’t worth it?
A big repair on a furnace past 15 or 20 years deserves a replacement price next to it. A good tech puts both numbers in front of you and lets you choose.
What our customers say.
SwiftPro did a truly professional job i in scheduling of my appointment, communication, and sending a technician who explained all issues to me regarding my furnace. Excellent service all around. I highly recommend this company.
5.0 stars across 884 Google reviews. Read them on our reviews page.
Heating repair questions from Clifton.
I smell gas and my Clifton house runs on propane. Who do I call?
Get everyone outside first, then call 911 and your propane supplier from out there, and don’t flip switches on the way out. On natural gas it’s the same drill, with Washington Gas at 703-750-1400. Once the leak is made safe, we’ll find which appliance it came from and price the fix.
Is a dual fuel heat pump worth it on NOVEC power?
It depends on which utility bills you and what the backup burns. Fairfax County’s map puts most of Clifton with NOVEC, and our dual fuel guide works out where the furnace should take over for NOVEC and Dominion customers. Propane generally costs more per unit of heat than natural gas, so with a propane furnace behind it the heat pump should carry more of the winter.
How much does furnace repair cost in Clifton?
The diagnostic visit is $99. A flame sensor cleaned is $95 to $180; an igniter or flame sensor replaced, $240 to $410; a control board, $550 to $1,180; a blower motor, $670 to $2,400.
Should I repair it or replace it?
Fix the small parts on almost anything. Before a big repair on an old furnace, look at the replacement number: a furnace alone, keeping the air conditioner you have, runs $4,285 to $14,040 installed, and the HVAC estimator gives your number in about a minute.
Furnace repair in the towns next door.
- Furnace repair in Fairfax Station
- Furnace repair in Burke
- Furnace repair in Manassas
- Furnace repair in Centreville
- Furnace repair in Fairfax
More from SwiftPro in Clifton
Tell us what your heat is doing.
Call, or book online and pick a window. The tech prices the repair from the book before starting, and if the furnace is at the end of its life you’ll hear that first.
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing is a licensed, BBB Accredited (A rating), independently owned heating, cooling and plumbing company in Chantilly, serving Clifton and the rest of Northern Virginia. Virginia contractor license #2705192276. 5.0 stars across 884 Google reviews. SwiftPro maintains a dedicated HVAC team and a dedicated plumbing team.
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing, 4230 Lafayette Center Dr, Suite N, Chantilly, VA 20151, (703) 997-9757. Book online, read our reviews, or see every town we serve.