Furnaces are a great addition to your home, especially if you live in areas that experience harsh cold weather. A furnace keeps your home warm by providing heat throughout a distribution system installed around your house. It uses a fuel source such as natural gas, coal, wood, or LPG as the primary source of heat.
Furnaces are a good investment to keep your family warm and healthy during cold, winter months. Moreover, if you live up north, you are required to get a furnace.
A furnace may require an expensive initial cost of purchase, but wait until you need to repair it, “they may come at a costly price too. Which is why in this article, we rounded up a few DIY repair tips for you homeowners who need to troubleshoot some furnace problems.
Problem: Suspected Gas Leak
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The number one sign of a furnace gas leak in the presence of an unusual odour. If you smell an unusual gas odour coming from the walls or near your furnace, you have to check your furnace immediately and turn off the gas supply valve that is located on your gas meter.
You can turn this off by using a wrench to rotate the valve. After shutting down the gas supply, look into your furnace as well as the pipes for a possible gas leak. If there is visible leakage, you should call the nearest gas utility or your fire department.
Do not turn the gas valve on and do not light any matches or turn on any switches until the problem is resolved.
Problem: Not working because there is no gas flame
Some furnaces use gas and combustion that is ignited by a pilot light. You can simply reignite the pilot light by using a piece of thin wire and clear the clogged pipe and hole.
Make sure to turn off the gas valve and switch off the circuit breaker to prevent risk hazards. Most pilot lights have a screw that adjusts the flame of the pilot light.
Refer to your furnace manual to see specific instructions on how to reignite or adjust the flame.
Problem: Malfunctioning thermostat
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Problems with your thermostat may be caused by a clogged filter. You can try cleaning the filter or replace it with a new one to see if the problem comes from it. If it does not keep your thermostat from malfunctioning, it is best to call the nearest furnace repair service company.
Problem: Not giving enough heat or does not heat at all
If your furnace is not giving enough heat or does not give off heat at all, the problem can be connected to several factors such as thermostat setting “you might want to check if your settings are on low and adjust it accordingly.
If it doesn’t do the trick, you should check the gas or pilot light of the furnace to see if enough gas or flame is being supplied to the furnace.
You should also check if the furnace filter is clogged as it can also affect the quality of heat your furnace emits. Or check if the size and ability of your furnace are apt to heat the whole space.
Sometimes, this problem is caused by having the wrong size and type of furnace to supply heat for a certain area of space.
Problem: Noisy Furnace
Furnaces should never emit rumbling, rattles, and squeaking sounds. Usually, a furnace emits noise due to mechanical problems, thermal expansion, or airflow reductions.
Each kind of sound a furnace makes points to a certain problem, but you might want to check first for your furnace panels” are they too loose?
If so, screw them on tight. You can also check the insides of the furnace if there are some parts that need tightening.
Most of the time, you can solve your furnace problems by yourself and with the help of this article and other instructional articles videos found on the Internet.
Especially if you keep your furnace well maintained, usually, your furnace trouble could be solved in a matter of minutes.
Assessing the situation and finding the root cause of your furnace problem yourself, before calling a furnace repair service company can save you hundreds of bucks.
Author bio
Bill Bradley is a heating and cooling consultant living in Chicago, Illinois.
His years of experience as a consultant made him knowledgeable on all the latest HVAC techniques and able to use the latest technology to provide quality services.