It can be frustrating when you turn on your wayward furnace only to realize that no heat is coming from the vents. Troubleshooting a gas furnace involves a series of steps:
Power
The first step in troubleshooting a gas furnace is checking the power. You should locate the fuse box for your home. Any electrical problem such as power surge, storm or electric outage through your electrical system can make the circuit breaker of your furnace to trip or its fuse to blow. Before doing anything else; you first eliminate the probability of power as being the cause of the problems when troubleshooting.
Thermostat
You can now check the setting on your furnace’s thermostat. For the thermostat to operate efficiently, the fan must be on it. You should adjust the setting on your thermostat to fan. This will enable the fan to stay on even when the heat of your furnace is off. You should also check to make sure that the thermostat is set between 3 degrees to 5 degrees above your room temperature. If you don’t do this, your furnace may never come on.
Filters and Vents
Another thing you should do during troubleshooting is checking the vents in your house to make sure they are open. You should then locate the cold air return for you to be able to remove your filter for further examination. When your filter is dirty or installed in a wrong direction, it may prevent air from coming through ventilation ducts.
If you have checked all the above and still your furnace is not working, you will have to determine if the problem is with the blower motor of your furnace. You should locate your blower motor and then check its belt to see if there are any cracks. Use precaution when checking the blower.
For more expert advice about troubleshooting your gas furnace and other issues related to home comfort, please feel free to contact Around the Clock Air Conditioning and Heating. We have been serving the Los Angeles area since 1967.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Los Angeles, North Hollywood and surrounding areas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about gas furnaces and other HVAC topics, downloadour free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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