Practically every home in America needs a furnace to keep its inhabitants toasty warm when the weather hits unbearable lows outside. A functioning furnace can help you and your family remain comfortable during even the harshest of winters. However, the key word in that last statement is “functioning.” It’s hard to hate a working furnace, but a furnace that experiences problems is something else altogether.
What should you do when your furnace isn’t working as expected and you need heat fast? Should you start rubbing sticks together in your living room, or do you need to look for emergency furnace repair options?
To answer that last question: of course, there is. Certainly, nobody is suggesting that you try starting a campfire inside when the furnace malfunctions. Ironic as it may sound, the best way to deal with a sudden chill inside is to keep a cool head. With a little strategy and a few fragments of basic furnace knowledge, you can solve many common furnace problems by yourself, turning what seems like an emergency at first into a minor inconvenience that you can overcome quickly and decisively. Learn about how you can fix up your furnace in the following paragraphs, and how you can recognize when it’s time to bring professionals on board.
Before You Consider Emergency Furnace Repair, Look for Common Furnace Problems
Before we dive into how to fix your furnace, it’s important for you to understand the likely reasons behind any trouble it may experience. Most furnace issues are caused by one simple problem: neglect. If you take care of your furnace regularly, you can prevent most common issues from ever bothering you. If not, you may find yourself encountering furnace trouble frequently.
To make sure that your furnace is unlikely to run into trouble, it is worth having a licensed service technician come to your house once or twice each year and provide routine service. A qualified HVAC technician can look over your heating system to make sure that there are no imminent problems on the horizon, and nip potential issues in the bud before they have a chance to compromise your heating capabilities.
Dirty filters also account for numerous furnace problems, but these can be dealt with easily on your own. Changing the filters on your furnace should be a monthly occurrence during periods where you are using it regularly, to help maintain air quality and circulation in your home. Clogs in your furnace filters can result in damage to the limit switch, which will prevent your fan from functioning properly.
Another common culprit for furnace problems is poor thermostat settings. You might not expect that many furnace issues are caused by a simple thermostat mistake, but the number of unnecessary calls that are placed to technicians every month because of such things is staggering. Don’t misunderstand us: there are definitely situations in which you should let a professional work on your furnace, and we’ll get into those in just a moment. However, before you call a professional, it’s worth looking at your thermostat just to make sure the problem isn’t a result of careless programming and simple absent-mindedness.
What Can You Do to Check Your Furnace?
Many other things can affect your furnace, and many of them do require professional help. These run the gamut from pilot control problems to performance issues that arise from an improperly sized unit and are beyond the abilities of most homeowners to handle without a technician’s assistance. However, there are several easy steps you can take to determine whether or not you are dealing with something that can be solved simply. Before you call for help with emergency furnace repair, be sure to do the following:
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- Check your thermostat to see that it is set higher than the actual temperature in your home, and replace the batteries if necessary.
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- Once you have accomplished this, see if your system has a selector switch. Selector switches are common in central heating and air systems and are used to choose between heating and cooling operations.
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- If your unit does have a selector switch, ensure that it is on the correct setting.
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- Once you have done that, look for the emergency switch and be sure that it is turned on.
- Then look at your fuse box or circuit breaker panel to check for tripped breakers or burned fuses.
You can correct these problems by yourself, but if they repeat themselves, you will need to hire professional help to assess your electrical system. If none of these methods are useful to you, a technician will be needed to take a closer look at your system safely and fix the issue at hand.
You don’t have to feel powerless when faced with the prospect of emergency furnace repair. There are cases where it will be necessary, but many furnace problems are simpler and manageable with some common sense. Refer to this guide often if you are concerned about your furnace, and try the simple solutions first.
Please call us immediately if you have any type of problem with your furnace that you are not comfortable addressing. It’s always better to be safe than sorry, so rely on your Valley Comfort Heating and Air HVAC professionals (707) 539-4533