Gas furnaces are preferred by many homeowners as you don’t need to have electricity in your home for you to use them. Just like other units in your home, the furnaces develop a number of problems. Here are some of the most common issues and what you can do about them:
No heat
Your gas unit can fail to produce heat due to many reasons such as: blown fuse, tripped circuit, closed control valve, non-working pilot light, and faulty thermostat. If you have the skills, you can fix the problems by yourself but if you have never fixed them before, consider hiring a heating repair professional to help you out.
Insufficient heat
You will experience this problem even if you have an electric furnace. Some of the reasons why the unit isn’t producing enough heat include: occlusion of the blower, loose blower belt, or dirty burners. In rare cases, your unit will have all of these problems at the same time.
You should check the blower belt whether its loose, confirm how clean the burners are, among many other things. If you are unable to find and fix the issue, you should now go ahead and hire an expert to help you in fixing it.
Failure of the pilot light to come on
To tell whether the pilot light is coming on when you put on the furnace, you should kneel on the floor and look at the underside of the furnace. If there is light, you should see a small blue flame coming from a small pipe.
If there is no light, your unit might be suffering from: clogged pilot opening, damaged thermocouple, and insufficient gas flow due to an improperly set gas valve. This issue might be too complicated for you thus it’s crucial that you hire an experienced HVAC contractor to help you in diagnosing the source of the problem and fix it.
Cycling furnace
If your furnace switches on and then off before it heats your home to the level that you are interested in, it might be suffering from a dirty filter, clogged blower, or the motor might be too dry. You can try fixing the issues as they are minor, but if you are unable to do it, hire a contractor to help you out.
Conclusion
These are some of the most common gas furnace problems and what you can do about them. When hiring a gas furnace repair professional, ensure that he is reputable and highly experienced. The last thing you want is working with a person who causes more damage to the unit.
