Common Reasons Your Furnace Isn’t Warming Your House

It’s disheartening to come home to a cold house when you’re expecting a warm, cozy retreat from cold wind or snow. Your furnace works hard during the cold months, so malfunctions and breakdowns can happen. Prompt repairs are important for your comfort and to prevent further damage to your furnace.

Here’s a look at common things to check when your furnace isn’t keeping your house warm and repairs an HVAC maintenance and repair company might need to do.

Things to Check First

There are things you can check before calling a furnace repair company that just might get your furnace working again. First, check the thermostat to verify it’s set properly. Check the circuit breaker and switch to make sure your furnace has power. It’s also important to check the filter since a filter that’s coated in a thick layer of dust can cause your furnace to malfunction.

You may also want to check the ducts if your furnace is running but not heating your house. If a duct has opened, warm air might be escaping into your attic. You may be able to replace a filter and put duct tape on the ducts by yourself, but if not, call for help from a professional.

Repairs for Low Air Flow

If your furnace is making hot air but the airflow through the ducts is too weak to heat your home, the problem might be with the blower system. The blower wheel might be clogged with dust, or the capacitor, belt, or motor might be worn. A furnace repair technician can pull parts out to clean and test them with a multimeter to find the bad part or parts.

A bad capacitor is a common furnace problem, and a capacitor is easy to replace. A faulty motor might be repaired, but when a motor goes bad, it may need to be replaced too. If the blower system is in good shape, the furnace technician needs to troubleshoot the problem to find out what’s wrong.

A faulty thermostat, wiring, or control board might be causing the blower to malfunction or not work at all.

Repairs for a Furnace That Doesn’t Make Heat

If your furnace isn’t making heat and it’s only blowing warm or cool air, the problem could be with the combustion area if you have a gas furnace. If you have an electric furnace, the problem might be with the heating elements.

Your furnace should have more than one element, and if one or more goes bad, your furnace won’t be able to heat up the air that’s blown out of the ducts.

An electric furnace also has a sequencer that turns the heating elements on one at a time so they don’t all come on at once and blow a circuit breaker. If the sequencer doesn’t signal an element to turn on, your furnace won’t make as much hot air.

The furnace repair technician may need to change a heating element or sequencer so your furnace can make the air hot enough to heat your home back up and keep it warm.

A gas furnace has several parts that work together to create heat. The repair person may need to test parts with a multimeter and look for parts clogged with soot or dust to figure out what’s wrong. They may clean the burners and other parts or replace the bad part or part, so your gas furnace ignites properly, and the burners heat up your home.

A malfunctioning furnace can drive up your power bills and leave you chilly and uncomfortable. We work on gas and electric furnaces and can diagnose any problem and recommend the best way to fix it and get your home warm and cozy again. When your furnace isn’t keeping your house as warm as it normally does, call Comfort Solutions for help & for emergency services in more serious situations.