Is your cold house just not heating up? Or, is your furnace making weird noises lately? If so, we can help. The following guide lists 9 easy furnace troubleshooting steps that you can do yourself. Most common furnace issues are solved by these steps. Hopefully, these instructions will fix your furnace problems as well. Then again, you might need to call a professional. Lucky for you, we're also going to teach you about that. That is, after the troubleshooting steps, we list some furnace repair situations that are best left to the professionals. So, if you have furnace problems, read on to learn what to do about them.
1. CHANGE YOUR AIR FILTER Proper furnace maintenance can prevent furnace problems or even solve them after they've started. So your first troubleshooting step is to change your air filter. This should be done every 3 months or else it gets clogged with dust and blocks the airflow. 2. INTERROGATE YOUR HOUSEHOLD Maybe your house isn't getting warm because the people you live with keep adjusting the thermostat when you're not looking. To find out, ask them. Then, make sure no one in your house touches the thermostat without letting you know. 3. CHECK THE THERMOSTAT SETTINGS Also, check to see how the thermostat is set. If the heat is turned off, well, that explains the problem. Furthermore, your thermostat may be running a programmed schedule that you don't know about. Check these programmable settings as well and make sure they're set properly. 4. CHECK THE POWER SOURCE Both your thermostat and your furnace should display some indication that they're receiving power. If you see no such indication, check how they're powered/hooked up. For instance, some furnaces are powered by batteries, which run out eventually. Others are linked to a normal-looking light switch on the wall. You may need your user manual to help you figure this out. And be sure to check the circuit breaker as well. 5. CHECK YOUR MANUAL Speaking of your manual, it should have some specific troubleshooting instructions as well. Your furnace also might display error codes that tell you what the problem is. The manual explains what these error codes mean. 6. CHECK THE FAN Lastly, an obstructed fan blade can cause a lot of racket. Check the fan to see if there is any debris you can clear out of the way. WHEN YOU SHOULD CALL A PRO Obviously, if these steps don't work, you must call a professional. Additionally, if there's a lot of heat and smoke near your furnace unit, call it in. Random shutdowns are a problem for professionals, too. It means that some issue is causing the furnace to automatically shut down for safety reasons. KEEP THIS FURNACE TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE Hopefully, these furnace troubleshooting steps fix any issues you're experiencing. Even so, your furnace may act up again later. Be sure to bookmark this page in case you need it again in the future. Also, if you do in fact need professional help, we're here for you. Contact West Bay Mechanical now for professional furnace repair services in Victoria, BC.