You obviously rely on your heating system to keep your home warm and comfortable all winter, and it can be frustrating when everything suddenly doesn’t work as it should. Whether you have a furnace or a heat pump, a wide variety of issues can crop up at any time that prevent your heating from working effectively or make it so that it doesn’t work at all. Depending on what specific issue you’re facing, it may be something you can fix yourself by taking certain steps to try and troubleshoot the problem. In this article, we’ll explore the most common heating issues and what you can do to try and diagnose and overcome them.
Heating Won’t Come On
Realizing that your heating won’t come on can be nerve-wracking and may lead you to panic thinking that your furnace or heat pump is dead. While there are times when that could be the case, there are also a variety of other more minor issues that can result in a heating system failing to run when it should. One possibility is that your heating system doesn’t have power due to an issue like a tripped circuit breaker, faulty wire or loose electrical connection. Even if you have a gas furnace, it requires electricity to turn on and run. The fact that a tripped circuit breaker will prevent your heating system from running means that this is one of the first things to check when facing this situation.
Another thing you want to check is that your thermostat is on the correct settings and that its batteries aren’t dead since many thermostats rely on battery power to signal the HVAC system to run. It could also be that the thermostat is faulty, which is something you can check by switching it to Cool and seeing if your AC comes on. If your AC also won’t run, it’s almost certainly a sign that your thermostat needs to be replaced.
If you have a gas furnace, you should also make sure that the access door is fully shut. That’s because gas furnaces have a sensor that prevents them from turning on when the door is open to prevent any potential safety hazards.
If you’ve taken all of the above steps and you still can’t get your heating to come on, you’ll need to have a technician perform an inspection and diagnostic assessment to determine what the issue is. That’s because you could be dealing with a faulty electronic igniter or inducer fan in your furnace or one of a handful of other issues like a dirty flame sensor or broken pressure switch.
Long Heating Cycles
Another issue that can frequently happen is that a heating system will start working less effectively, resulting in it taking a much longer time to heat your house. If you have a heat pump, it’s fairly common that it will end up running almost constantly whenever the outdoor temperature is below freezing. Nonetheless, it should still be able to keep your house sufficiently warm without the temperature ever dropping by more than 1-2 degrees below what your thermostat is set to. If you have a furnace, it should normally only need to run for 15-20 minutes per cycle before your house reaches the right temperature and your heating shuts off.
If your heat pump is struggling to keep your house warm or your furnace runs much longer than it should, the first thing we recommend is changing the air filter in your heating system. Dirty air filters are highly restrictive, which means they limit how much air can get drawn into the heating system. The result is then that the heating system puts out far less hot air so that the house gets heated much more slowly.
If the air filter isn’t dirty, it could mean that there is an issue with your ductwork, the HVAC blower, the furnace burners, heat pump coils or various other components. Again, the only way to find out for sure what specific issue your heating has is to have it inspected by a professional. When facing this situation, it’s important that you act quickly to get whatever the issue is fixed or else it could lead to a huge spike in your energy bills.
Heating Keeps Shutting Off Before House Is Fully Warm
Another issue you may sometimes encounter is that your heating starts to occasionally or constantly shut off before your house has reached the right temperature. As with all of the other issues on this list, this one can happen for a variety of reasons such as an issue with the thermostat itself or the wiring between the thermostat and the HVAC control board. Another common problem gas furnaces can experience is that they automatically shut off as a safety precaution due to overheating. A gas furnace can quickly end up overheating if there isn’t enough cool air getting drawn into it and flowing over its heat exchanger, which usually happens as a result of a dirty air filter or an issue with the blower. You can also end up with a furnace intermittently shutting off too soon if the flame sensor is dirty since this can lead to it sometimes not being able to detect that the burners are lit.
Cold Spots and Uneven Temperatures
When your heating system is working properly, it should continually circulate sufficient hot air into every room so that your entire house remains at around the same temperature. If you have temperature fluctuations around your house and cold spots in some areas, it normally means that your heating system either isn’t putting out sufficient hot air or is struggling to circulate the air throughout the entire house.
One of the most common reasons why you’ll end up with cold spots in some areas is due to issues with your ductwork, such as gaps or holes that allow some of the hot air to escape or uninsulated ducts in your attic or crawl space. Two other possibilities are that the air filter is dirty and needs to be changed or that you have a malfunctioning blower that needs to be replaced or repaired, either of which will prevent your heating from circulating sufficient hot air.
Unusual Noises
Heating systems can also have issues where they start to make unusual noises like screeching, squealing, grinding, rattling, booming, etc., and each of these noises is usually related to a different thing. For instance, screeching or squealing usually indicates that there is an issue with either the bearings or the belt that drives the blower motor. In this case, you want to take immediate action or else there is a high chance the blower motor could burn out and lead to a much more expensive repair bill.
Rattling sounds sometimes just indicate that there is a loose component. Alternatively, it can indicate that the furnace’s heat exchanger is cracked, which is an extremely dangerous issue due to the potential for carbon monoxide to leak out into the air ducts and get circulated throughout the house.
If you hear a loud booming sound when your furnace first turns on, it’s a sign that there is an issue like the burners being overly dirty that is leading to a slight delay in ignition. If the burners don’t light immediately, gas can begin filling up the combustion chamber and produce what is essentially a small explosion or fireball when it lights. This is also something you want to get fixed quickly due to the potential for the fireball to damage certain components or potentially even cause your furnace to catch fire.
At Bryant Heating, Cooling, Plumbing & Electric, we’ve been helping residents in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana with their heating and air conditioning since 1940. Our unrivaled experience and level of expertise make us the company to trust if you’re experiencing any issues with your heating system. We service and repair all brands and models of furnaces and heat pumps and can quickly get to the bottom of whatever issue your heating system has. To schedule a heating repair or inspection or any other HVAC, plumbing or electrical service, contact us today.
