When it is cold outside, you want your heating unit to work properly. Whether you are using a gas furnace or a heat pump, a broken equipment means that it is time to pull the space heaters out, put on jackets, and experience lots of discomfort until at least your HVAC guys show up.
However, why does not your heater turn on? What is keeping your unit from working appropriately – and how severe is the issue? Let’s find out:
Lack Of Maintenance
This probably is the main source of your heating unit not turning on during winters. It is the most probable reason your heating unit won’t just turn on. More frequently than not, the issue is that the furnace/heating unit is just dirty:
The solution? Have your HVAC expert clean your unit every year! Yearly maintenance pays for itself ultimately because you will not need to deal with discomfort or inconvenience of a non-working furnace/heating unit.
Too Much Gas
The furnace manufacturers have specs actually for how much of gas their equipment must burn. Basically, you have to calibrate the unit during installation to ensure it works appropriately. Otherwise, it may stop working suddenly at an inconvenient time.
When it is less than 20 degree outside. And wind is howling. And icy.
Sometimes, an improperly calibrated furnace burns too much of gas. When this occurs over a long time period, two main things can occur:
- You’ll overpay for the gas during winter
- Your furnace overheats, making it to cycle out on limit switch
- Dead Blower Capacitor
The capacitor starts a furnace when thermostat setting makes it turn on. Capacitors possess tolerance levels. If the tolerance is below certain level, the blower may not achieve the right RPM. In a few cases, capacitor just will not start the blower. What can be the worst scenario? A completely dying capacitor leading to blower malfunction, which really is a costly repair.
Low Refrigerant Level
Heating a house with heat pump? In case you’re, it is possible for refrigerant level to become a bit very low. When this happens, the heat strips may come on more frequently than you wish them to.
And all of us know that heat strip can result in exorbitant utility bills, which isn’t good.
If you find the heat strips coming with increasing frequency, then it may be time to boost your refrigerant charge. And if level is very low for very long, the compressor may overheat and fail down. So, always keep your eye on auxiliary/strips heat status in winter.
Dead Starting Components
All types of components can become bad for a lot of reasons. In particular, failed starting components, can avoid your blower or the outdoor unit from properly starting. The system will not heat your house, and you will need to replace bad parts.
Again, regular inspection and proper maintenance can assist you identify issues with such components prior to they fail. You will avoid expensive repairs in future.
Cracked Heat Exchanger
The cracked heat exchanger will not always result in furnace failure –not right away at least. Still, let’s have a look at it because:
It could impact efficiency of your unit, which you may notice when it becomes bad enough.
The cracked heat exchanger sometimes is indicative of another issue that can cause your furnace/heating unit to fail, such as low airflow because of dirty components,so its its high time to call Heating Bellevue.
If you have got cracked heat exchanger, then you should replace it at the earliest as it is quite dangerous.