Of all the appliance repair needs you may have in your home throughout the course of a year, few are more concerning than that of a broken down or malfunctioning furnace in the middle of winter. When you live where we do, a fully effective and efficient heater is essential. To accomplish this, it’s first important that you schedule routine maintenance, once a year, for your furnace. If you haven’t done so already, now’s the time to schedule this service!
Next, you’ll want to ensure that any Janesville, IA furnace repair needs that come up during maintenance are addressed right away. Otherwise, you could find yourself facing one of the two common furnace complaints calls we get—that the system either won’t start or that the furnace won’t stop running.
Reasons Your Furnace Might Not Start
There are a few possibilities here. Some issues are more serious than others. For instance, one possibility is that you don’t have a problem with your heater at all, but instead with your thermostat—which, in the grand scheme of things, isn’t a huge problem.
First, check your thermostat and make sure that it’s actually in heating mode. This may sound obvious but trust us, this mistake has been made before. If that’s not the case in your situation, ensure that the circuit breaker to the system is turned off (for your safety), and then check to see if there are any problems with the wiring, such as fraying.
Another reason a furnace might not start is a lack of electrical power. You may have a tripped circuit breaker, or there could be a power outage in your neighborhood. If your system is gas-powered, the problem might be that your pilot light is out (though even gas-powered systems use an electric ignitor, so the problem could still be electrical.)
If none of the above-mentioned scenarios seem plausible, then you may have a more serious problem on your hands. Hopefully, you did have maintenance done before the season began. If that’s the case, and you took care of pending repairs right after, you likely have nothing to worry about, but it is time to call in a pro.
Reasons a Furnace Might Not Stop
So, what if the problem isn’t that your heater won’t start, but that it won’t stop? This might seem like a minor issue on a freezing cold day, but it is detrimental to the efficiency of your heating system and can be damaging the system itself.
This is another case where you might be dealing with a thermostat problem. A malfunctioning thermostat might not be able to accurately signal to the furnace that your desired temperature is being met, and it’s time to shut off.
One more possibility is that you may have the thermostat set too high and your furnace keeps running in an attempt to reach that temperature but is unable to do so. This might also be the case if the air filter is too dirty and clogged. Do make sure you’re changing the air filter out every 1-3 months!
At Dalton Plumbing, Heating, Cooling, Electric and Fireplaces, Inc., your comfort is our promise! To set up an appointment, give us a call at the number above, email customerservice@daltonphc.com or schedule an appointment online.