DIY Furnace Troubleshooting

March 06, 2015

One of the most important parts of the winter is staying comfortable and warm. Of course, staying comfortable is vital throughout the year, but during the cold it is even more essential. Winters in Erie are always changing and the coldest days can often appear on us, sometimes when your furnace is ill-equipped. So, before you ask a professional technician, here are a few things you can inspect first:

  1. Check your filter – dirty filters are one of the most common causes of unexpected furnace failures. Air has a more difficult time floating through filters once they are filthy or dirty, causing the system to shut off sometimes. The older the furnace, the more difficult it might be to detect the problem, while newer furnaces are meant to find clogged and dirty filters before further troubles arise. Replacing furnace filters every month or so can prevent these problems and keep you warm.
  2. See if your batteries are weak or dead – keep incessant tabs on your thermostat batteries to ensure that there isn’t a flashing low battery light or indicator on your thermostat. If there is, it’s time to switch out the batteries on your thermostat.
  3. Ensure that your thermostat is set to “heat” – it can be easy to overlook little things like the settings of your thermostat. Insure this vital step, especially if there was a new spike in temperature that may have caused you to change the “heat” setting.
  4. Check your switches – in your home’s circuit breaker panel, find the breakers that run your furnace:
    1. [Ensure|Guarantee|Confirm]48] that the switch is in the On spot. If it is Off or in the middle of the two positions, turn the breaker to Off and then reset it to On.
    2. The switch that looks like a light switch should also be in the On, or Up, spot. It can definitely be misidentified as a real light switch, which is why it is usually the problem with furnace troubleshooting. Once it’s back On, the system will only take a few minutes to reboot.

Going through these steps is an easy and effective way of checking the efficiency of your furnace before you set-up a call to your Erie expert. If there are still difficulties after you have gone through these steps, you will have a much greater idea on how to notify your [[technicians|specialists|experts}69] on what the trouble might be. If you have questions or need to arrange a repair, call Patterson & Stirling Inc in Erie.