The cold weather may still linger, but it won’t linger for much longer as we get deeper into spring. You’ll soon turn on the AC and stop using the furnace for many months. This is the time to schedule regular air conditioning maintenance with our technicians to ensure your AC is in peak shape for the summer heat.
But you do have to think about your furnace at this time as well. You may need furnace service in Brighton, MI before it’s time to shut it off, as well as take a few other steps.
This is not a situation you want to find yourself in: a failing heater when winter is still in force. Unfortunately, you can’t always control problems like this. Excellent regular maintenance can help make emergency replacements rare, but nothing is a 100% guarantee. Your best defense against the sudden replacement blues is to catch early indicators your heater is coming close to crashing so you can call a Holly, MI, HVAC contractor to replace it. Learn to strike first!
Okay, but what are the signs to watch for of a heater that’s about to go into a crash-dive? Here are a few to look for:
If your house doesn’t have a connection to the municipal natural gas supply, you probably use electricity to power most appliances, including the heater. The most common type of electric central heating system is the electric furnace, which works on the basic principle of electrical resistance heating. Electrical current flows through wires in the heating elements, causing the elements to heat up. The air sent through the furnace picks up heat from the surface of the elements and then continues into the ventilation system to the rest of the house.
It’s easy to explain—not much different from how a toaster works—but there are special components involved that allow an electric furnace to work reliably and provide precision home heating. We’re going to focus on one of them in this post: the sequencer.
What do you expect from your home’s furnace when you start it up for the season? Heat, obviously! But just plain heat isn’t enough, otherwise you could do well for a house with just a cheap space heater. No, you have a furnace because you want heat distributed throughout your house so all the rooms enjoy warmth. That’s the whole point of having a central heating system.
So if you’ve started your furnace for the season and noticed that not all the rooms are getting warm the way you expect, you may have a problem. It’s possible there’s a simple explanation. Or you may need to call our technicians for furnace repair in Howell, MI to see that you’re getting the heating performance you deserve from the furnace.
We know a little something about furnaces, so we can share some of the reasons that your furnace isn’t providing even heating:
Thermostats are among the most advanced parts of HVAC systems. Even the simple ones have such an important part to play that no homeowner can afford to overlook the thermostat—especially since thermostat troubles are among the most common for creating comfort issues in a home.
What’s tricky about thermostat malfunctions is that they aren’t always obviously coming from the thermostat. This is one of the reasons it’s important to have a Howell, MI, HVAC contractor on the job when you aren’t receiving the comfort levels you expect from your AC or heater, or if you’ve noticed odd behavior from the HVAC system and a steep rise in energy bills.
To help you recognize a thermostat on the fritz, here’s a list of some of the most common thermostat-based problems you may run into:
It’s probably going to be the last month you will run your furnace for a good long while. You have a few more days left, and it’s easy to think that it doesn’t matter much if the furnace isn’t working as well as it usually does.
However, no matter when you need to have heater repair in Grand Blanc, MI, it’s important to have it scheduled as soon as possible—no matter how close the warmer weather may be. In the case of a gas furnace (which is what you probably have) allowing the heater to run without a malfunction can potentially be dangerous.
One of big advantages of having a boiler to heat your home is that boilers in general need fewer repairs than furnaces or heat pumps, the other common central heating systems. Why is thos? It’s because boilers have fewer mechanical moving parts. The lower number of mechanical parts, the less wear due to operation over the years. You can anticipate only having to make an occasional call for boiler repair in Brighton, MI, and you can expect to get 20 to 30 years of service from a well-installed boiler, which can be twice as long as the lifespans of heat pumps and furnaces.
Zero repairs, however? Probably won’t happen. Boilers still have mechanical parts, and they’re complex devices that can malfunction in different ways. A system that heats and circulates water comes with its own set of potential problems.
Why are furnaces so common as heaters in homes? Even with other options, like boilers, heat pumps, and electric baseboard heaters, furnaces are still the type of comfort system people think of first when they want winter heat. There are several reasons for the widespread use of furnaces: they’re powerful, dependable, and for a house that already has ducts, a flexible fit.
Furnaces have a few drawbacks, such as the occasional malfunction. We’ve handled heating repair in Brighton, MI for almost twenty years, so we know all about fixing furnaces that are struggling. Below are six ones we often see. When you run into one of these malfunctions that are threatening your winter comfort, call First Choice and we’ll restore your warm house.
This is not the way you want to start the winter—with a furnace that turns on but falls short of providing the comfort you expect.
We have good news and bad news about your underperforming furnace. The good news is that the problem may turn out to be a simple one that you can correct yourself. The bad news is that it may … well, not be simple. However, if you find yourself with a furnace in the second category, you don’t have to worry about trying to fix it. In fact, you should never attempt to fix it. For furnace repair in Howell, MI, call on the top professionals in the area—the First Choice Heating & Cooling HVAC technicians.
Using a boiler is a great way to enjoy even, comfortable heating throughout your house during the winter. Among the choices for heating in Brighton, MI, a boiler remains one of the best—and they have the extra benefit of needing far fewer repairs than furnaces thanks to the smaller amount of moving parts.
But you may encounter boiler problems at some point, and one of the most common signs something is wrong is when the boiler makes odd noises. Boilers run quieter than furnaces—that’s another one of their advantages—so when any sound from your boiler catches your attention, it might indicate a need for repairs.
But what causes these strange sounds? We’ll look into the usual suspects.
