Just like you don’t want your air conditioner to break down during the peak of summer, you don’t want to have any problems with your heater in the winter. California winters might be mild compared to what people living in other parts of the country must deal with, but overnight temperatures can still dip into the 30s in December, January, and February. Knowing when you need to call for a heating repair in Santa Rosa is a must to avoid cold and potentially dangerous temperatures inside your home.
Common Signs That You Need a Heating Repair
The good news is that furnace or heating system problems typically don’t appear at random. On the contrary, if you need a heating repair, your system will give you weeks or months of warning signs before breaking down. The important thing is knowing how to recognize these signs. Below, we’ve run through a few of the most common symptoms of heating system problems.
- Odd noises: Motorists know to take their cars in for repairs if and when they start hearing unusual noises. The same should be true of homeowners when it comes to their heating systems. If your furnace is issuing odd noises— strange hums or groans, loud bangs, any kind of rattling—there is probably something wrong internally. Buzzing sounds are common symptoms of electrical problems, while screeches often come from belts that are on their last legs. Bottom line, if your furnace is crying out in pain, get it the attention and care it deserves.
- Your electricity bills are weirdly high: As the temperatures in Santa Rosa drop, you are going to see an uptick in your electric and gas bills. These increases are natural: colder temperatures trigger your furnace to do more work to maintain a comfortable temperature in your home, which in turn increases utility bills. However, your costs should stay the same month to month throughout the winter, and should definitely be comparable year over year. If your electricity bill have suddenly leapt to a record amount for no apparent reason, that’s probably a sign that your heating system is working harder and using more energy. These efficiency drops are often signs that something is wrong with the furnace.
- Issues with the air coming out of your vents: Early in the fall/winter season, it’s always a good idea to spend some time near your vents to get a sense of what is coming out of them. Ideally, you should feel a strong burst of warm air whenever the furnace kicks on. If the air doesn’t feel particularly warm, or if the airflow is down, you should call an HVAC technician to investigate. Lukewarm air indicates a furnace problem. This issue will probably also result in the house not feeling warm enough, requiring you to crank up the thermostat to get the temperature you want. Airflow problems, meanwhile, are usually caused by blockages in your air ducts. Duct blockages, in turn, force your furnace to work harder to keep the house warm, which could explain your rising utility bills, too.
- Your furnace is short cycling: Most people think of the heat in their homes being “on” in the wintertime. Indeed, you will likely need to toggle a switch on your thermostat from “cool” to “heat” as fall transitions into winter. However, just like your air conditioning isn’t running constantly in the summer, your furnace isn’t always running in the winter. On the contrary, your furnace shouldn’t need to run more than 2-3 cycles per hour, with each cycle going for about 10 minutes. In other words, your furnace is running less than half the time. If your furnace is short cycling, though, that means it kicks on more frequently for shorter bursts of time. You might hear it turn on 6-7 times per hour for 2-3 minutes at a time. This sporadic operation is not efficient, due to the amount of energy required to start and stop the furnace. It also means the furnace isn’t performing a full heating cycle, which can lead to cool temperatures or odd heat distribution throughout the house. In any case, short cycling is a big problem for any furnace and merits a call for a heating repair in Santa Rosa.
Call for Heating Repair in Santa Rosa Today
These four issues—along with a furnace that just doesn’t start up or run at all—are probably the four most common and obvious signs that your heating system needs some type of repair. If you notice any of these issues, call for a heating repair in Santa Rosa ASAP. Problems with your furnace or your ducts won’t solve themselves and will often worsen over time. To avoid a winter of too-cold temperatures and to prevent a breakdown of your system, find an HVAC technician near you today.
