Is your furnace on the fritz? At Topline Heating & Air, we’ve got the bear you can count on! Call us for 24/7 customer service at (717) 628-6825.
As a Pennsylvania resident, you know that winter temperatures dip deep into the 20s at night. Even as the sun rises, you’ll still get a chill from the cool outdoor temperatures without reliable heat.
What can go wrong with a furnace? Lots of common problems arise with furnaces in residential and commercial buildings alike.
While you can handle some furnace issues by yourself, many problems require a visit from an experienced professional from Bethel’s HVAC services. Broken parts and defective equipment often surface as the main source of your furnace complications. To help you better understand your furnace’s lackluster performance, we provided a list of six common furnace problems.
1. Unchanged Filters
Furnaces use filters to ensure good indoor air quality and prevent ductwork clogs. As your system pulls air in, the filter cleans the air. Your furnace then disperses the filtered air throughout your home.
A dirty air filter forces your furnace to work harder to suck air in. As a result, you end up breathing dirtier air filled with dust and allergens. As it works harder, your furnace becomes more susceptible to wear and tear.
How can you mitigate this common furnace problem? Change your air filters every couple of months, and set calendar reminders, so you don’t forget. Doing so ensures you breathe allergen-free air while preventing expensive problems in the future.
2. Damaged Blower Parts
The blower on your furnace circulates warm air throughout your home’s air ducts. Its essential function is to keep your house warm during cold weather. When you observe that warm air no longer circulates from your vents, call an HVAC professional. Your blower won’t start working properly without appropriate repairs.
When your furnace makes scraping noises, it needs new ball bearings. Damaged ball bearings occur from general wear and tear or improper installment. You should turn your furnace off until an HVAC professional can assist you. If you continue running your furnace with bad bearings, you’ll incur further furnace issues.
Blower belts also develop damage over time. Squealing noises usually indicate a misplaced or malfunctioning belt. Often, the blower belt shifts from its place.
Your HVAC technician can easily put it back in place. Other times, the belt becomes stretched or damaged, so you need a new one installed. Both problems prevent your furnace from working at high efficiency and increase your power expenses.
The capacitor, another blower part prone to damage, ensures an appropriate level of amps to power your furnace during usage. When you have a run-down capacitor, you pay higher energy bills.
You also might deal with tripped breakers or short circuits. When your furnace begins a normal cycle but cuts off at random, you have a damaged capacitor on your hands. An HVAC technician can help you sort out the problem.
3. Faulty Thermostat
Occasionally, what can go wrong with a furnace has nothing to do with your furnace’s functions. Instead, your thermostat malfunctions and sends the wrong electrical messages.
Your thermostat ideally picks up on the atmospheric temperature. It then sends signals to your furnace about when to turn the heat on and off.
A few things cause your thermostat to send the wrong messages.
For example, a thermostat placed near a drafty window will signal a cooler temperature. If your thermostat has incorrect wiring, this also causes it to send inaccurate messages. Your problem could also be as simple as a battery change.
Your furnace will either work too much or not enough as a result. If you changed the batteries with no improvement, call an HVAC technician to help out. They can diagnose the issue and implement a solution.
4. Defective Limit Switch
Limit switches provide important safety functions and keep your furnace running smoothly. It identifies the temperature inside your furnace. With this information, the limit switch signals when your furnace should cycle.
Sometimes, your furnace’s heat levels rise to hazardous levels. The limit switch responds to this by turning off the burners. This feature protects you from fires and serious furnace damage.
When the limit switch doesn’t work properly, your furnace runs continuously. This puts you and your family in danger of a furnace fire if the furnace overheats.
When this happens, schedule an appointment with our HVAC services. Our professionals can fix or replace your limit switch, making your furnace usable again.
5. Malfunctioning Flame Detector
The limit switch includes a flame detector which determines whether the pilot flame ignites. When the detector can’t find the flame, it causes a complete system shutdown. A dirty flame detector often triggers this safety feature when your furnace has no other problems.
Sometimes, you can easily manage flame detector problems on your own. Remove it from the access panel to inspect the level of debris it collected.
With a light debris level, you can clean the detector easily. If it appears damaged or heavily soiled, call an HVAC professional to solve the problem.
6. Avoiding Routine Maintenance
Have you ever skipped out on yearly furnace maintenance? If so, you miss out on the best way to mitigate problems before they happen.
Sometimes, you need furnace repair due to unexpected damage. However, an HVAC professional will replace or fix any damaged parts during their visit before you notice any issues.
Our HVAC professionals will keep you informed about how to keep your furnace in working order. During frigid Pennsylvania winters, you don’t need to worry about what can go wrong with a furnace.
At Topline Heating & Air, We’re Always There
Stay on top of furnace maintenance by scheduling your appointment with Topline Heating & Air today. When you want to schedule your annual maintenance visit, you can trust us for the #1 heating and air conditioning services in Lancaster, Honey Brook, and surrounding areas.
Call us at (717) 628-6825 for 24/7 customer service.