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Furnace Repair | More Ways To Care For Your Furnace
Welcome to part two of our furnace health series! In part one, we learned all about how changing the furnace filter can minimize wear and tear on your furnace. Ultimately reducing the frequency of furnace repairs and minimizing your utility bills!
In today’s part two, we learn about more ways to care for your furnace like:
- How to check the thermostat
- Ensure the blower is functioning
- Visually inspect all ducts and vents
- Get an annual inspection by a furnace professional
Check the Thermostat
While the thermostat is not technically part of the furnace, it works with the furnace, keeping your home warm in the winter, and cool in the summer. Many people call Hot to Cold Mechanical, assuming they need a furnace repair or replacement, because the furnace does not respond when they turn up or down the thermostat. While Fyith and his team are always happy to come out to inspect a furnace, it’s often a problem with the thermostat. In fact, a thermostat only lasts about 10 years.
The good news is when you do go to upgrade your thermostat, you can look at the wide variety of smart thermostats on the market, helping you save money on heating or cooling bills, and minimize the wear and tear on your furnace by programming when it should turn on and turn off, helping you extend the time before you will need a furnace repair.
However, before you discover that your thermostat is not working, you can take some time to check it, to make sure it’s in good working order. One of the easiest things you can do is check to ensure the housing and sensors are not covered in dust. Who really thinks about dusting their thermostat? But if it, or the sensors gets dusty or dirty, it could impact the communication to the thermostat. Once you’ve done that, make sure that the furnace reacts appropriately when you go through all the settings – heat, cool, fan etc.
If the furnace is not responding properly, or at all, whether you need a new thermostat, or a furnace repair, that’s when you should call the furnace experts in, not when the furnace or thermostat stops working completely.
Is The Blower Working?
While the furnace may be heating up or cooling down, if that air is not reaching all rooms of your home, you may need a furnace repair to fix or replace the blower, or blower motor. This part of the furnace is the fan that moves the hot or cold air through the ducts in your home, heating and cooling each room appropriately. When you check your thermostat and change your furnace filter, ensure that the blower or fan is turning on. However, it’s not just making sure it turns on that’s needed.
It may be working, but is making too much noise, indicating it needs a tune up or repair. Perhaps it is spinning too slowly. If anything with the fan or blower doesn’t seem to be working right, this is the best time to call Hot to Cold Mechanical to come out for an inspection!
Inspect The Vents and Ducts
While the vents and ducts will not dictate whether you will need a furnace repair or not, they can help troubleshoot. If ducts are leaking, rooms may not heat up or cool down as expected. Often, people call their furnace technicians like Hot to Cold Mechanical, and say their furnace is not working properly. Once they inspect everything, it turns out that the ducts or vents might have holes, or seams that aren’t sealed properly.
Homeowners are encouraged to just visually inspect all vents in the home to ensure they are sealed properly, and just visually inspect any ducting they can see, such as any ducting in their unfinished basement, or in their furnace room for example.
Annual Inspections are Important!
Finally, the last thing that home owners should be doing for the health of their furnace is to get an annual inspection and furnace tune up. This is when the furnace experts come in, to look at, clean and repair any parts of the furnace that need it. This only needs to be done once a year, and furnace technicians generally recommend getting it done at the end of the summer, when they will be switching from air conditioning to heat, and don’t want to wait until a cold snap before they discover that something is wrong and they need a furnace repair.
Or alternatively, get the furnace inspection done at the end of the winter, after the furnace has worked hard, and may need some extra care.
Contact Us today!
If homeowners follow this advice, they will often be able to prevent needing a furnace repair until years into their future. As well as extend the life of their furnace, being able to prevent needing a furnace replacement for even longer. Routine inspections and maintenance helps your furnace function better, saving you money on bills and preventing untimely furnace repairs and replacements. Call your furnace technician today!