It’s easy to think about your furnace and blame it for problems in your home. To be fair, it might be your furnace, but it also could be something else. If you think you have an issue with your furnace, you definitely want to know for certain before spending money on a repair call (especially if it turns out there’s nothing to repair).
Before you call for furnace repair in Los Lunas, NM, let’s run through some issues that might–or might not–be caused by your furnace.
You Smell Rotten Eggs
A gas leak in your home is a potentially fatal issue, but gas on its own is completely odorless. Your gas provider adds mercaptan to your gas which gives it a noticeable smell of rotten eggs.
This is dangerous. Gas leaks should never be taken lightly. However, it’s not impossible for homeowners to encounter this problem if they leave their trash barrels near the air intake for the HVAC system.
Trash smells like trash, and your air filter isn’t going to capture every scent that passes through it. If you know it can’t possibly be anything else in your home, leave and call for emergency repair services.
Loud Noises From the Walls or Ceiling
When your furnace turns on, it makes some banging sounds. It’s a little bit loud, but it settles down. What happens when you hear that noise again later?
There are a few things it could be. For one, it absolutely can be your furnace. Extremely loud sounds from your furnace are an indicator that something is wrong.
But it could also be the sound of pipes knocking. It’s unlikely that you know the location of every single pipe in your home, so if you hear a loud bang from the wall, it could be your pipes.
Knocking pipes can be fixed by purging air from your pipes. If you do that and the knocking or banging sounds stop, huzzah–it was the plumbing all along. If not, it requires a service call.
The Heat’s On, But You’re Cold
You turned your furnace on, but you’re still chilly. You can hear that it’s running, it’s not short cycling, so what gives?
We know this sounds simple, but it’s usually the simple problems that people miss. Go around and make sure all the windows in your home are closed and that there’s no separate fan blowing near your thermostat.
Your thermostat conveys information to the furnace, so if your fan is redirecting warm air directly at the thermostat, it could signal that the home is warmer than it truly is.
If your windows are closed and your furnace has been recently serviced, you might have to look at your insulation. Insulation isn’t permanent: it has to be replaced from time to time, and older insulation isn’t as energy efficient as modern insulation.
Your furnace could be working fine, it could just also be leaking warm air outside of your home.
If It’s Your Furnace, Call Now
Genuine problems with your furnace need to be handled as soon as possible, otherwise, they could lead to larger issues and more expensive repairs.
If you’ve determined that it is in fact your furnace causing the problem in your home, don’t hesitate to call and schedule your repair.
Contact First Rate Plumbing Heating and Cooling Inc. today to schedule maintenance or repairs for your furnace. Quality work, exuberant service.