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5 Things You Need to Do if You Suspect That Your Furnace is Broken

By: Author Jeff Campbell

Posted on Last updated:

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It’s useful to know how your appliances work so that if something doesn’t feel right, you’ll know what to do right away. It’s not that you should know how to fix them, although that would be useful indeed, but you should at least know what to do right away if something feels broken.

One particular appliance you should know more about is your furnace. It’s already winter, so you need your furnace to be working properly to keep everybody warm. But, if you feel that the temperature inside your house is almost the same as the temperature outside, then you need to check up on your furnace and see if you need to order any furnace parts.

Here are five things you should do if you think your furnace is broken:

  1. Check your filter

If you feel that the air inside your house feels too cold, go down to your basement, or wherever your furnace is, and see if it’s working. If the furnace is hot, then the problem may be with your filter. Perhaps the filter is clogged up, which is why there’s no hot air going into your house.

Check your air filters to see if they’re dirty or if something is blocking the vents from releasing hot air into your house. Also, be sure to replace your filters every three months.

  1. Check your thermostat

Another probable reason your furnace doesn’t seem to work is that the thermostat may be broken. What you should do is set the thermostat to hot and adjust the temperature to 5° above room temperature. Your furnace should be warming up after you’ve done this, but if it’s not working, then you might have a faulty thermostat.

Oftentimes, a faulty thermostat only means that its batteries are not working. A quick fix to this is to replace the old batteries with new ones and make sure to replace them every year.

  1. Check your air ducts

Sometimes, household appliances don’t work because of silly mistakes. If you’ve turned on your furnace but there are areas that still feel cold, go see if any of your furniture is blocking the air ducts.

Another reason why there’s no heat inside your home is that your air ducts are partially closed. All air ducts have handles you can use to close or open them up, and you might have left one of your air ducts partially closed so go check them all.

If you’ve done both and there’s still no heat inside your home, then perhaps you have a leaking air duct. You can inspect them yourself or hire a professional to do it for you. Fix this problem right away because a leaking air duct will only cause your furnace to work harder in bringing hot air into the house. This will also raise your electric bill.

  1. Check if the furnace is turned on

There’s a possibility that your furnace is not turned on, which is why you’re not getting any hot air. Perhaps the circuit breaker for the furnace was turned off or perhaps someone fixed your furnace recently and the repairman forgot to turn it back on. Whatever the reason may be, you should check your furnace if it’s actually turned on before concluding that it’s broken.

  1. Call the pros

If you’ve already inspected your furnace and air ducts, or even tried to fix them, yet your home is still as cold as a freezer, then it’s time to call the professionals. You may, unfortunately, need a new furnace installation.

There are a lot of great HVAC pros all over the US, but if you’re in the midwest, why not start with the best?

Summers Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling have tons of locations to meet your needs. And if you have questions, check out all they offer and answers to all your questions over at: www.summersphc.com/chesterton/services/heating/furnace-repair/

Knowing what to do right away if you suspect that your furnace isn’t working can help you find a solution and prevent further damage to your appliance. Remember the tips above and use them well when it seems that your house is getting too cold.

There may be something wrong with your heating system that you’re not aware of and you’re not capable of fixing. Call up an expert on furnace maintenance in Salt Lake City before your house enters the Ice Age.

Jeff Campbell
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