How to Know If Your Furnace Needs Repaired

If you have a furnace in your home, we have good news for you! A furnace is a relatively reliable piece of equipment for the workload most homeowners put it through, especially when you compare its operation time to the amount of money spent to keep it in running condition. The average furnace run time is almost 8-10 hours per day during the winter season. In comparison, most people spend roughly 10x that amount on their cars and only drive an average of two hours per day.

Furnace Repair Checklist

There are lots of situations that can cause your heating equipment to not work exactly as expected, but furnaces have lots of safeties to make sure everything is operating normally…until something goes wrong. So, when do you raise your hand (or paw, like our furry friend pictured) to get the help of an expert for repairs to your furnace? If …

• your thermostat is consistently below your setpoint
• you notice any unusual smells that last for hours (caveat: the first run of the heating season dust does “burn off” the heat exchanger and that is normal)
• you hear any unusual noises - a furnace should not be clanging, banging, knocking, thumping, or making any other such noise
• you see a crazy spike in your gas bill (that isn’t due to rate hikes by your gas company)
• [IMPORTANT ONE] you don’t have heat for several hours. If the heat comes back on after several hours of being off, that’s an indication that something went wrong. We recommend having an HVAC professional come out to verify proper operation. This issue could be due to a lack of maintenance; there are safety devices that need to be cleaned and checked yearly.  

Keep Your Family and Home Safe

To be safe, always have at least two Carbon Monoxide (CO) detectors. Choose different models because if there is a manufacturing glitch with one, it’s safer to have two different types. Remember to replace CO detectors every five years at minimum!   

Whether you have a furnace or heat pump, we have professional, friendly and highly trained technicians to assist with any heating issue you’re experiencing. The first step in our heating repair process is a full inspection. One of our heating repair experts will look at all the details before determining which repairs are needed. You can always count on an honest assessment, and we pride ourselves on working with our customers to find the most economical solutions.