How To Tell When A Furnace Is On The Fritz
Most homeowners tend to lose track of when their major appliances were installed — especially their furnace. This can make it difficult to know when your unit may need a replacement or repair. If you’re not sure, here are five warning signs that you may need to replace your heater soon.
1. Your furnace is nearing the end of its useful life.
Gas and electric furnaces have expected life spans between 13 and 20 years. The average furnace experiencing an extreme decrease in efficiency and the need for minor and major repairs starting between 10 and 15 years of age. If you’ve never had your furnace inspected, cleaned, and repaired, you may need to replace it much sooner due to multiple worn parts and numerous failures.
2. Your furnace has airflow problems or is blowing cold air.
When your furnace turns on, does it blow little to no air through your registers or cold air? These are signs that there is something wrong with your furnace. Common issues that cause low to no airflow and cold air include needing to change the furnace filter, problems with your blower, issues with the fuel source, and a broken heat exchanger.
You could also have holes and cracks in your air ducts — but this is less common. While you can change the air filter yourself, everything else will need to be inspected by a licensed HVAC technician.
3. Your furnace squeals, clanks, or grinds.
Your furnace should not make any loud noises. When it turns on, the only thing you should hear is the flow of air and the blower. If it grinds, clanks or squeals, there’s a component that is on the verge of breaking or has broken. In this instance, it’s best to call a repair professional before your furnace completely quits.
4. Your furnace smells terrible.
When you turn on your furnace for the first time during the late fall or winter season, it’s going to smell a bit odd. This is all the dust and dirt that has accumulated on the unit throughout the summer. However, the smell should go away in a few hours to one day.
If your furnace smells terrible every time it operates, it could mean there are wires burning or dust and dirt stuck deep within the system. When this happens, it’s not advisable to take your furnace apart and clean it yourself. Instead, you should call an HVAC professional that has the proper tools and equipment to clean your unit quickly and entirely as to examine your furnace for any problems with the wiring, blower, heat exchanger, and other components.
5. You have ridiculously high heating bills for no reason.
When you first install your furnace, it meets or exceeds its efficiency rating, which means your heating bills will be reasonably low, especially if your home has good insulation and has been weatherized. As your furnace ages, the components start to wear out. This means that your furnace has to work harder to produce the same level of heat.
Over time, this results in increasingly higher heating bills. If you’ve noticed your heating bills climbing and the weather has been mild with no long periods of extreme cold, it’s time to either repair or replace your furnace.
Furnace Repair Services on Long Island
By keeping yourself informed of the common signs that your furnace needs to be replaced, you will be ready when the inevitable happens. The good news is that modern heaters are extremely energy efficient and can save you money on your monthly heating bills once they are installed.
If you do encounter an issue with your furnace, give our team at NH Ross, Inc. a call today. We’ll get you back up and running as quickly as possible! (631) 240-0100
