What to check if you have a problem with your Furnace. Horsch & Miller Plumbing and Heating serves Slinger, Cedarburg, and Milwaukee with full service Heating, air conditioning and Plumbing Emergency repairs and Replacements
Thermostat
The first thing to check is the battery.
Most digital thermostats have a battery indicator on the display. If you see an
icon in the display asking for a battery, follow the manufacturer's instructions
and replace the battery with an appropriate size.
If you see no display
at all, check the power to the furnace. This particular thermostat has a sealed
battery in it, and it isn't replaceable.
If you've checked the battery,
you've checked the power supply, and your thermostat is still not operating
properly, it's likely that you're going to have to replace your thermostat. It's
important to know how your thermostat works when it's normal. If you're familiar
with the proper operation of your equipment, then it's going to be easier if you
notice something acting unusual and you can call an HVAC Technition for a proper
diagnosis.
Electronic Ignition Furnace Problems
To determine what type of ignition
system you have, open the front of the furnace and turn up your furnace. Observe
what happens in the burner area. If there's a very small flame that starts
first, and then ignites all of the main burners, that's an intermittent pilot
type of ignition. If the ignition happens and the main burners come on
immediately, then that's a direct ignition.
Once you figure out which
type of ignition system you have, if you see it operating in a way that's not
correct, it's best to call a service technician as soon as possible. It's
important that you are aware of how the system is supposed to operate when
everything is normal. So that way when things do change, you can be aware of it
and call for service before it becomes a bigger problem. It's going to help
maintain the equipment, keep it lasting longer, and also reduce energy
costs.
Furnace Is Noisy
Squeaks, rattles, and rumbles are some of the things
that we hear from furnaces. In the case of a squeak, it can be related to a
motor failing or just making noise. Rumbling and rattling can be caused by an
out of balance blower wheel caused by debris, age, or just being dirty. Early
gas furnaces used a motor with a belt to drive the wheel. That's the blower that
moves the air into the house. All modern furnaces use a direct drive blower
that's permanently lubricated. It doesn't require any lubrication or
maintenance.
Squeaks and squeals can also happen from air leaks. There
can be a leak in the duct work or around the furnace somewhere that's allowing a
small amount of air to leak in or out causing a whistling or squeaking sound. If
you suspect that a high-pitched squealing or whistling noise could be coming
from the air flow, what you can do is check some of the gaps or joints where the
sheet metal is connected. Those are the likely sources where that can happen and
it can be simply sealed up with tape or a piece of putty. Sometimes as little as
a door being out of alignment can cause a squeal or a squeak and you can just
move it a little bit or just make sure it's firmly placed where it should
be.
So when you look at the burners on a furnace, you can kind of judge
the condition. If you see any kind of dust, lint or other kind of dirt in the
furnace, that could be clogging one of the burners and causing excess noise in a
furnace. In that case, it's important to get a professional out to do a proper
cleaning on the furnace for you. Knowing a little bit about your system and
being educated about it is the best way to stay on top of it and avoid
breakdowns. A lot of times when homeowners hear the system operating in an
unusual way, they can have us come out and take care of it before it becomes a
bigger issue.
Furnace Blower Doesn't Turn Off
The first thing to check is the fan
switch on the thermostat. "Auto" means that the fan should only be running to
try to heat or cool the home to try to match the thermostat setting. If you see
the thermostat fan switch set to "on," or "low," "medium," or "high," then
you're going to have continuous fan operation.
The next thing to look at
is your filter. If you find a clogged filter, it may have caused damage to the
limit switch. What the limit switch does is it senses the temperature inside the
furnace. If it sees a temperature that's too high, then it shuts off the fire as
a safety and only will allow it to come back on once it's cooled. If the filter
has been clogged too long, then it may have damaged that switch to the point
where it needs to be replaced. In this case, the furnace high limit is a small
button type device that's got two wires connected to it. Every furnace is a
little bit different. Some of them have more than one limit, and some of the
limits look very different. If that limit switch is failed, it's very important
to find the source of why it failed and not just replace the switch.
It's a very important safety issue.
Furnace Cycles On and Off Too Frequently
If you notice the frequency of
the heat cycles becoming too short, that's an indication of a problem with your
system. The first thing you want to check is the fan switch on the thermostat.
In this case, it's up here in the display and it says "auto." Now, "auto" means
that the fan should only be running to try to heat or cool the home to try to
match the thermostat setting. If you see the thermostat fan switch set to "on,"
or in this case "low," "medium," or "high," then you're going to have continuous
fan operation.
If your filter has been in the furnace for a long time and
its gotten very clogged, it can cause the furnace to what we call cycle on
limit. That means that instead of heating continuously, the flames turn on and
off because the unit is overheating due to that clogged filter.
The
important thing with filters is watching the air flow direction. There's always
an arrow that tells us which way the air should flow through the furnace. On
most furnaces, people have drawn arrows that tells you which way the air flow
direction should be.
Furnace Does Not Produce Enough Heat
One of the most common sources of
this kind of problem is a clogged filter. It's very important that you check
your filters regularly and change them frequently for good furnace operation and
best efficiency. The second possibility is that the furnace was not sized
properly, meaning that it doesn't have enough capacity to keep the home warm.
It's important that a heating and air company size the equipment for the
capacity needed to keep your home warm. Another possibility, though it's pretty
rare, could be that your burners could be clogged to the point where it's not
allowing the furnace to create enough heat and meet its full capacity.
Furnace Does Not Heat
Some possible causes of that are: thermostat not
adjusted properly, the power going to the furnace could be shut off, the gas
going to the furnace could be shut off, or the pilot light could be out. A
couple things to check with the thermostat: The first thing to remember is that
everybody's thermostat is going to be different. In this case, when the red
light is on, that means that it's in heat mode, so it's ready to heat the house.
The next thing to check is to make sure the set point is higher than the room
temperature. So if we raise that set point above the room temperature, that's
going to turn the heat on.
Furnace Pilot is Out
Some of common sources of a lost pilot light are a
failed thermocouple, a strong draft, or a clogged orifice to the gas supply to
the pilot light. A thermocouple is a device on a standing pilot system that
proves the flame to the gas valve and allows gas to keep flowing as long as
there's a flame sensed. It's probably best if you have a professional check it
out, clean it and verify that it's working properly. Now, the thing to keep in
mind is most modern furnaces don't use a standing pilot light anymore.
Horsch & Miller Plumbing and Heating serves Slinger, Cedarburg, and Milwaukee with full service Heating, air conditioning and Plumbing Emergency repairs and Replacements. Service when you need it, with competitive pricing. We will send you a qualified technician, not a salesman, who knows how to complete his task within a minimum amount of time. Whatever and whenever you need us, Heating and Air Conditioning Repair and Service, or Plumbing Repair and services. We are here to serve you, our loyal customers.
