What Are the Most Common Furnace Problems?

January 08, 2024

Have you ever set the thermostat to a nice, cozy temperature on a winter night only to wake up the next morning with chilled feet, a cold runny nose, and the clouds of your own breath blowing over your head?

The likely culprit is furnace problems (or even a broken furnace).

Luckily, most furnace issues are an easy fix. It doesn’t require much money, effort, or time to get to the root of the problem and tackle it with precision.

Here are some of the most common furnace problems, how to fix them, and when to call a professional.

Your Furnace Isn’t Receiving Power

If your furnace is unplugged, you won’t get any heat out of it. The first thing you’ll want to do is plug it back in. After that, check if the circuit breaker tripped. If it did, the fix is simple.

Here are the steps:

1. Flip the breaker from its OFF position to its ON position.
2. If it’s in the middle of OFF and ON, turn it off first, then flip it back up.

Hopefully, the breaker will stay in the ON position and your furnace will be up-and-running.

If it switches back to OFF, there’s a wiring issue. You’ll want to contact a licensed professional to sort this out for you.

What’s That Scraping Sound?

It’s the ball bearings. They’ve done all they could and now they’re worn down. If your furnace is scraping or grinding like nails on a chalkboard, lubricating them is no longer an option.

They’ll need to get replaced. To do this the proper and safest way, you’ll want to turn off your heater and immediately call an HVAC professional.

What’s That Squealing Sound?

If your furnace is screeching and squealing at you like a bat in the dead of night, it means there’s an issue with your blower belt. It either slipped or is worn down.

Consider troubleshooting this issue yourself if you have had experience with similar mechanical issues.

If it slipped, just tighten it, but try not to tighten it too much. This can cause needless wear and tear on your ball bearings.

Assuming your blower belt is worn out, it’s still an easy and cheap replacement. Consider taking a trip to your local home improvement store.

Furnace Problems With Pilot Light or Ignition

If your furnace is working, your pilot light should always be lit. When the pilot light is acting strange, there could be a range of factors contributing to this misbehavior, so it’s best to have an HVAC professional tackle this problem for you.

You can never be too certain if a defective safety switch is the culprit of this problem. Because of this, troubleshooting pilot light issues on your own could put you in needless danger.

Some other common issues causing a defective pilot light include:

• Clogged pilot orifice
• Flame setting too low
• Aberrant thermocouple

Professionals will turn off the gas supply and wait at least 5-10 minutes before relighting your pilot. The longer the pilot has been out, the larger the gas build-up. If you don’t know what you’re doing, AGAIN, please contact an HVAC professional.

Still Unsure About What’s Wrong With Your Furnace?

That’s okay! The furnace problems listed above are the most common, but the list of possible causes of your furnace not working is rather long.

You can save yourself a lot of time, money, and heartache by contacting your Above and Beyond Heating and Cooling HVAC professionals. Stationed in Edmond, OK, and Oklahoma City, OK, we would love to hear from you.