When you buy a home, there may be an existing furnace already in place. Even if everything in the home passed inspection, you could still face some common furnace problems in the near future. After all, you don’t know how the previous homeowners took care of their furnace – or not.
When you do need to schedule an appointment for furnace repair in Houston, Texas, give our team a call. We can complete an inspection and make recommendations for any tune-up items that need to be completed. Keep reading to learn more about the furnace repairs that you may face the season as a new homeowner and what you can do about them.
Dirty Ducts
We recommend that ductwork be cleaned, tested and resealed every three to five years. There’s a chance that the service will be due soon after you buy a new home. There’s even a chance that the previous homeowners never invested in this valuable service, making it even more important for you to complete.
Duct cleaning is one of the best ways to improve your indoor air quality. During the appointment, we will also check for broken seals and holes and make any repairs so that your ductwork can stay in great condition for another three to five years. The service can also greatly lower your monthly energy costs if holes in the ductwork are causing you to lose conditioned air.
Bad Starter
Whether you have a gas or electric furnace, the components that allow your furnace to start up and produce heat could be broken. In an electric furnace, these could be the components connected to burners and heating elements. In a gas furnace, these could be the components that release gas into the airtight chamber and ignite the pilot light to complete the combustion process.
Broken Sensors
And speaking of the pilot light, you could also have bad sensors that don’t allow the ignition process to happen the way it needs to. For example, if a flame sensor is broken, ignition may not happen at all. Alternatively, the flame sensor may allow the flame to stay on for too long or ignite at the wrong times. If the pilot light ignites too late and gas has an opportunity to build up in the chamber, it can cause a small explosion that’ll result in a booming noise in your furnace.
Thermostat
Your furnace can only work as well as the attached thermostat allows. If your thermostat is outdated or miscalibrated, then it may not communicate properly with your furnace. Ideally, you want to have a smart thermostat in place that allows you to adjust settings from your phone while you are away.
A smart thermostat can also help you optimize energy use by making recommendations for temperature adjustments during periods of the day when you are away or asleep. Adjusting the thermostat settings down just a few degrees while you are away can keep your home warm while saving a lot on your energy costs. Your smart thermostat can automatically increase heating settings again before you return home at the end of the day so your home is as comfortable as you would like.
Broken Blower
There are many times that a furnace will turn on and heat, but not blow air out into your home. When this happens, something is wrong with the blower motor. All of that heat getting trapped in your furnace can lead to safety shutdowns and overheating. Plus your home is simply not getting warm, which is a problem in and of itself.
When you buy a new home, we encourage you to schedule an appointment with our team to check out your furnace from top to bottom, inside and out. We can bring any potential issues to your attention and help you get a great start in your new home by ensuring that your furnace is working the best that it can.
At AC Comfort, your comfort is our business! Serving Katy, TX, and the surrounding areas