The snows have slapped the Midwest this holiday season with quite a few inches of the wet, white stuff. While it is pretty to see, it has not been fun to keep clearing away. It has not been fun to try keeping your homes warm, either. If you have tried to crank the thermostat in your home this past week, and the house is still too cold and the thermostat registers a chillier temp than you would like, the problem could be one of three things.
Your Ignition Switch Is Shot
Most furnaces have an ignition switch. This switch creates a spark, either via electricity or from striking a flammable source. If it cannot spark, it cannot create flames. No flames means no hot air. No hot air, well, you get the picture. Only a professional HVAC technician, such as those at Polar Aire Heating & Cooling Inc, can fix this without setting the house on fire, so be sure to call one as soon as you notice that you cannot get any heat.
Your Thermostat Is Shot
Yes, thermostats do break. It takes a long time from the time they are first installed until they bust, but when they break you will know it. You can set the thermostat for the highest temperature possible, and despite the fact that the furnace will sound like it is kicking on, you get zero heat. That is because there is a connection between the thermostat and the furnace that sends signals from the thermostat to the furnace. A broken thermostat does not send those signals, and therefore the furnace just blows the internal fan without producing any heat. The thermostat will have to be replaced completely, but before it gets that far, make sure the problem is not related to dead batteries in the thermostat itself.
Not Enough Fuel
An electric furnace does not need fuel, but oil furnaces, propane furnaces, and natural gas furnaces all need fuel to heat your home. If the fuel tanks are reasonably full or have enough fuel, then the problem is the fuel delivery lines and/or the pilot lights. Cleaning and clearing out the lines and repairing the pilot light is typically par for the course if you request furnace maintenance services every year. However, if you skip these services, you may find that at the coldest part of winter you will need to call a repair technician to fix these things.
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