Simple Furnace Fixes

If you suspect furnace problems, try these viii quick furnace fixes yous can exercise yourself before calling a pro.

Fourth dimension

A full day

Complexity

Beginner

Cost

Less than $twenty

Introduction

If your furnace quits or breaks down try these eight elementary solutions before you lot telephone call for service assistance. Y'all can solve the furnace bug and avoid a $200 service call.

Tools Required

Materials Required

  • Bleach
  • Electrical tape
  • Furnace filter
  • Hardware cloth
  • Metal foil duct tape

Watch this video to see 6 quick DIY fixes for furnace problems:

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Projection step-by-footstep (viii)

Step 1

Check the thermostat to make sure information technology'south on

Thermostat controls

Motion the thermostat setting to "heat." A furnace tin can exist intimidating—especially when the rut won't plough on. However, in that location is good news from furnace maintenance pros. Roughly a quarter of all service calls could be avoided with like shooting fish in a barrel furnace fixes that price little or nothing. In this article, nosotros'll focus on the mutual furnace troubleshooting culprits and show you what to do about furnace bug.

Thermostat not turning on heat

Before you presume you have a furnace trouble, do some furnace troubleshooting and check the thermostat to brand sure it'southward really telling the furnace to come on. Thermostats, specially programmable ones, tin can be complicated, and the more options a thermostat has, the more that tin can go wrong.

  • Brand certain the furnace switch is on "Rut" rather than on "Absurd."
  • Check the temperature setting.
  • Compare the temperature setting to the room temperature. Set the temperature 5 degrees higher than the room temperature and meet if the furnace kicks on.
  • Make certain the program is displaying the right day and time, also as a.1000. and p.k. settings.
  • Trace the thermostat wires back to the furnace to check for breaks, especially if you've done any remodeling recently. If you find a break in one of the thin wires, splice the line dorsum together and wrap it with electric record.
  • Replace the bombardment. If y'all take a power outage with a expressionless battery, you lot'll lose your settings and the thermostat volition revert to the default program.
  • Open the thermostat and gently accident out whatever dust or debris. Make sure information technology'south level and firmly attached on the wall, and that none of the wires coming into it are loose.
  • If y'all can't make the program settings work, you can bypass them altogether. Simply punch in the temperature you want with the up/down control and and so press the hold push button. That will switch on the furnace if the thermostat programming is the trouble.

Tip: Lost your owner'southward manual? Most major-brand manuals are on the Spider web—just go to the manufacturer's website.

Figure A Furnace Troubleshooting: 8 Things to Check Before You lot Call a Repair Service

You lot can check and correct all eight items in only a few minutes. We prove a gas-fired, forced-air furnace here, but most of the aforementioned checks employ to electric furnace systems and hot h2o boilers.

Note: You can download Effigy A and overstate it in Additional Data below.

Stride 2

Check shutoff switches and breakers

APR17_Reset_Breaker_1-2

It sounds unbelievable, just furnace technicians often find that the only "repair" a furnace needs is to be turned on. Look for a standard wall switch on or nigh the furnace—all furnaces, no matter what age or type, have one somewhere. Bank check the circuit billow or fuse for the furnace as well. Make sure the front panel roofing the blower motor is securely fastened—there'due south a button-in switch under information technology that must be fully depressed for the furnace to operate.

Step 3

Change filters

Furnace filters

A clogged furnace filter can crusade a furnace to shut off. Dirty filters are the about mutual cause of furnace problems. Grit and dirt restrict airflow—and if the filter gets too chock-full, the heat exchanger will overheat and shut off likewise quickly, and your house won't warm upwardly. If the blower is running only no estrus is coming out, replace the filter. A muddied filter too causes soot buildup on the oestrus exchanger, reducing the efficiency of the furnace and shortening its life.

The possessor's manual shows where the filter is and how to remove information technology. Change inexpensive flat filters at least one time a month. Make sure that the pointer points toward the furnace. Inspect pleated filters once a month. Concur them up to the calorie-free and if you can't see the lite clearly through them, replace them. Manufacturers say pleated filters are adept for three months, just change them more than frequently if you have pets, kids or generate lots of dust.

Always turn off the shutoff switch (see Solution ii) and turn the thermostat off or all the way down earlier irresolute the filter or working on the thermostat or furnace.

Step 4

Make certain the gas is on

Gas line cutoff furnace

Gas furnace not blowing hot air? But equally with switches, someone may have turned off a gas valve and and then forgotten to turn it back on. Trace the gas line back from the furnace to the meter, and if yous run across a handle that'south perpendicular to the gas pipe, plough information technology so it's parallel. Gas furnace repair is depends on how old your furnace is. If you have an erstwhile furnace or banality, you lot may have a airplane pilot light. Remove the front panel and the burner cover and check to make sure information technology'due south lit.

Stride 5

Make sure the chimney exhaust flue is clear

dfh17sep042-03 fireplace chimney wire mesh cap

Drawn by the warmth, birds sometimes fall into the chimney exhaust flue. Turn the furnace off and the thermostat all the fashion down, then dismantle the duct where it exits the furnace and check for debris. Be certain to reassemble the sections in the same gild and direction that you took them out.

Step half dozen

Flush out drain lines

furnace drain line

High-efficiency furnaces can drain off several gallons of water a day in heating season. If the drain lines go restricted by sediment or mold growth, the furnace volition shut downwards. If the drain hose looks dirty, remove the hose, fill it with a mixture of bleach and h2o (25 per centum bleach), then flush it after several minutes.

Step seven

Look for blocked or leaky ducts that can restrict airflow

If your furnace comes on just one or 2 rooms are cold, offset make sure all the room registers are open. And then examine whatsoever ductwork you lot tin become access to and await for gaps between sections or branching points. Seal any gaps betwixt sections of duct with special metal duct record. Don't utilize standard fabric duct tape—information technology rapidly deteriorates, and it may as well crusade ducts to leak if it was used to seal sections in the past.

As well cheque for handles protruding from the ductwork. These are dampers or air conditioner bypasses—make sure they're open.

Step 8

Clean away leaves and debris from estrus pumps or intake and frazzle vents.

If you take a furnace that vents out the side of the house, make certain nothing is blocking the intake or exhaust. If either of the pipes is covered with screen mesh (similar window screen), replace it with i/2-in.-mesh hardware material. If water ice is clogging 1 of the pipes, you have a bigger trouble somewhere in the system. Clear information technology off and call a technician to find out why it's happening.

If you accept a heat pump, articulate abroad grass and leaves from the fins of the outdoor compressor unit. Before heating flavor starts, hose it down gently from the top to rinse dirt and debris out of the housing.

Additional Information

  • Figure A: viii Things to Check Earlier You Call a Repair Service
  • Figure A1: High Efficiency Furnace

Practice you lot have a room that's a little colder in the Wintertime or warmer in the Summer? Bank check out this unproblematic blower speed furnace boost trick.