February is the last full month of winter—but we still have plenty of cold, rainy days ahead of us even through the spring. It’s important not to neglect your home’s furnace at this time of year. You may feel tempted to let apparently minor problems go without attention because you’ll soon be running the furnace less. This is a mistake, since any minor problem that isn’t fixed can start creating major problems. And the original minor problem may only be the tip of a bigger malfunction you haven’t detected yet.
To help you with diagnosing when your furnace needs late season help from HVAC professionals, we’ve put together a list of signs to watch for. Get in touch with us for furnace repair in Salem, OR or elsewhere in our wide service area.
Acrid odors from the vents
Musty and dusty smells coming from the vents are expected when a furnace first comes on: it’s dust from the ducts being blown into the living spaces and the burning of dust from along the heat exchanger. But if this smell appears much later during the winter, it often means the furnace has a motor that’s overheating. Repairs may save the motor, and the motor can be replaced if it’s failed.
Tripped circuit breakers
People often don’t think about the electrical power that goes into running a natural gas furnace. The natural gas is what supplies the heat for the furnace, but electricity is needed to run other components like the fan, the igniter, and the limit switch. If the furnace starts to regularly trip the circuit breakers, it can mean the fan motor is overburdened and drawing on too much electricity.
Rooms that are cooler than they should be
Is someone in your household complaining that their room doesn’t seem to be getting warm enough? If this is a new occurrence, one of the possibilities is that the furnace is starting to lose heating power. It might also mean trouble with leaks in the ductwork letting the hot air escape before it reaches the room. Have the furnace checked out ASAP.
Utility bills are rising sharply
If you notice a significant bump in your heating bills over a month, and you’re certain you haven’t been running the heater more often, there may be a malfunction in the heating system that is creating an energy drain. An HVAC technician can locate what’s specifically wrong.
Short-cycling
This is when the furnace turns on and off rapidly over a short time and doesn’t complete a heating cycle. There are many potential causes for this, but it needs to be stopped because it puts an enormous amount of stress on the components.
Leave Furnace Diagnosis and Repair to the HVAC Experts
Remember, furnace repair is a job that only professionals should do. The pros will not only get the work done right and on time, they’ll also keep the furnace running safely … and that’s the most important job of all.
Comfort Flow Heating serves all of Oregon. We are small enough to listen, large enough to deliver.
