Sometimes it can be something really simple that could be causing your furnace not to function properly. We put together a list of 5 things you can try if you are experiencing an issue with your furnace to see if they help before calling a technician to come to take a look:
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Change Air Filter
Your furnace needs to have good airflow to work properly. The #1 way that you can help your furnace have good airflow is with a clean air filter. Go to your furnace and take out the air filter and hold it up to the light. If you can’t see light coming through, there isn’t enough air getting through it and it’s time to replace it. Typically, you should replace your air filter every 1-3 months, So, you should be checking this often. When was the last time you checked yours?
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Open Vents Around the House
Your system is designed to move a certain amount of air out through the house and then bring that same amount back to the furnace. Just like a dirty filter can restrict airflow to a furnace, so can having too many closed vents. Go around the house and make sure all of the vents are open and that the air return vents aren’t blocked by anything.
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Check the Exhaust Fan
It’s common in high-efficiency furnaces to have the exhaust vent outside. Sometimes it’s put down low. If it happens to snow a lot, it could cover the exhaust vent resulting in your furnace shutting down. If that happens, all you need to do is clear away the snow from the vent. If it’s not snowing and you can see into the exhaust, check to see if anything is blocking it, such as a bird’s nest that was made in Spring or Summer.
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Change the Thermostat Battery
Your furnace doesn’t know to turn on unless it gets a message from the thermostat. So, if the batteries in your thermostat are low, it might now have enough power to get that message to the furnace. So, it’s important to make sure that your thermostat has good battery power so it can work properly. To do this, take your thermostat off the wall and replace the batteries.
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Reset the Furnace
Once you’ve tried the other things listed above, you want to try resetting the furnace. Furnaces have a circuit board and it’s constantly sending and receiving messages from it. Resetting the furnace can clear out the error codes and help it to start up again (kind of like when a computer is bugging out and you turn it off and back on to reset it). Sometimes this works for your furnace. To reset your furnace all you have to do is turn it off (either with the switch or breaker), count to 10, and then turn it back on.
When you reset your furnace this way, you aren’t fixing anything. You are just clearing out the error codes and giving it a chance to start up. If you try and restart it and it comes on again and then shuts off again and you restart it again and it shuts off . . . that’s a sign that there’s probably something else wrong with it and you’re going to want to call a technician to come to take a look at it and see what’s going on.
Sometimes these simple things to try and troubleshoot your furnace can help get your furnace up and running again when it’s having an issue. They are worth trying to see if they work before calling a technician out to look at them.
* Pro Tip – It’s a good idea to have your furnace serviced every year sometime during the winter. It’s like changing the oil in your car and getting the tires rotated. You’ll have a technician come out and they will go through your furnace and check out the vital components and make sure your furnace is running safely and efficiently.
As always, if you ever feel like you’ve gotten in over your head, stop and call a technician that you trust for some help. If you’re in the Utah market, consider calling Any Hour Services, Electrical, Plumbing, Heating & Air.
We had our HVAC managers discuss Common Furnace Failures on one of our recent podcasts. Click here to check it out.
