Even if you love winter in Central New Jersey, you wouldn’t care Troubleshooting for at quite as much with a finnicky furnace on your hands.
And sooner or later, even with the best of care, it’s going to let you down. How will you Troubleshooting know when that time has come?
Here are just a few of the signs that your heating system requires professional attention:
- Warm over here, cold over there. Do you have hot and cold spots during the fall and winter months? If so, and they’re within the same zone, then most likely you have an air distribution problem, such as under-sized ductwork, a blocked register or vent, and so on. If, on the other hand, it’s nice and warm in one zone, but a little uncomfortable in another, you probably have a faulty thermostat.
- Too loud! Heating systems are meant to be felt, not heard. But if you hear all kinds of banging, rattling, wheezing, etc., chances are the root cause is either poor air distribution or a loose part in the fan assembly.
- Utility bills way too high. The older your heating system, the less energy efficient it becomes. Here’s what you need to ask yourself with a furnace that’s 10 – 15 years old: do you replace it only when it completely fails, or replace it on sooner and spare yourself the inevitable repair issues along with higher and higher utility costs?
- Frequent repairs. As your furnace approaches and eventually reaches its twilight years, repair problems tend to mount in frequency and expense. Even if you’re determined to get every last ounce of heat out of yours, sooner or later you’re going to face the proverbial “one repair too many,” when you finally decide it’s no longer worth repairing.
- How’s everyone feeling? If you or other family members are feeling poorly while at home but otherwise okay, you need to have your heat exchanger checked out. As furnaces age, heat exchangers become increasingly prone to cracking, leaking, and releasing carbon monoxide into living spaces.
The moral of this story? Actually, there are a couple.
First, not all furnace problems indicate the need to replace it. Many are minor, easily fixed, and affordable. Equally important, you’ll get more mileage from your furnace with annual preventative maintenance. So, if it’s been a year or longer since your system was last cleaned and inspected, call Anthony’s Plumbing today so we can help keep you warm and cozy all winter long while putting a dent in your heating costs.
