Happy New Year! If you haven’t already, now is the time when you’ll notice if there are problems with your heating system. If you can hear your furnace up and running, that’s a good sign, right? Absolutely! But what if your furnace is running, and you are getting some heat, but not in all parts of your home? Cold spots in your house in January can be utterly miserable.
If some rooms in your home are perfectly cozy and others never quite lose their chill, what’s going on with your heating system? Uneven heating throughout a house can be caused by a variety of things, some of which you can resolve all by yourself. Here’s what you need to know.
The Air Filter
This is the quickest and easiest thing to check and might just solve your problem completely. Have you changed your air filter recently? Recently here means within the last month. If not, or if there might be extra dust for some reason (shedding pets, we’re looking at you!), a filter change could improve your airflow enough to get that heat circulating properly again.
The Thermostat
Here’s another possibility that would indicate that your furnace is working just fine: a problem with your thermostat instead. Check the settings, and if they’re set the way they should be, consider changing the batteries. Sometimes, before the batteries die completely, the thermostat sends out inconsistent signals that can have an impact on the evenness of your heating.
Short Cycling
Now we get into problems that indicate that you do actually need heating repair in Bandera, TX. Short cycling means that within moments of starting a heating cycle, your furnace shuts down. A few minutes later, it starts up, but again, the heating cycle is cut short. This is both a symptom of a problem and a potential cause of other problems, so don’t delay in getting it addressed!
It could be that the blower fan motor is overheating and setting off the limit switch, which shuts the furnace down to prevent a fire. It could be that the limit switch is faulty, shutting down the furnace when nothing is wrong! But whatever the cause, it needs to be fixed, because short cycling puts a lot of strain on the system, risking damage to more components and driving up your energy bills.
Zone Control
Some homes have zone control systems, where dampers inside the ducts can be opened and shut to allow or prevent heat in various zones of the home. If a damper is stuck, it could be stopping the hot air from flowing where you want it.
Age
Sometimes, it’s simply that the furnace has gotten very old and can’t function optimally anymore. For a gas furnace, this is around fifteen years of age, and for an electric furnace, twenty or so. Your furnace will age faster if you don’t have annual maintenance done!
A qualified heating technician can help you get to the root of the problem. Whatever is wrong, it can be diagnosed and repaired, or, in the case of a very old furnace, your technician can discuss whether repairs are a reasonable investment and what your replacement options are.
Contact D’Spain Sales & Service to talk to a member of our team.
