Heater Repairs Mclean: Common Heater Problems That Can Occur
Owning a heater is a necessity, especially in cold places such as McLean, Virginia. Despite the costly maintenance and operation in a house with a heater, this isn’t one to do without, most especially if you want to keep everyone warm and safe when inside the house.
A heater plays a significant role in the cold, freezing months. Because of this significance, the last thing you’d want to happen is for the cold season to start kicking in, and you’re not even the least bit ready for it at all, as your heater starts to have problems.
An early determination of the conventional heater problems plays a very important role in better management of your whole heating system. What are these common problems? Read through below.
1. Cracked Heat Exchanger
This problem commonly occurs in gas furnaces or home heating systems. This is one of the issues with heaters that should never be ignored.
Broken or cracked heat exchangers expose the homeowners or people in your home to toxic gases. Over a prolonged duration, this can be dangerous for your health. More so when there are young children and infants.
Merely looking at your heating system isn’t enough to adequately determine if a problem exists. Instead, it’s best to be wary of the following signs:
- Strange smells coming out of your heater
- Family members experience recurring headaches or flu-like symptoms
- Water on the floor of the base of your furnace
If you experience any of these problems in your HVAC in Mclean Virginia, call for an expert to evaluate your system immediately.
2. Gas Leak
When gas is leaking out of your heating system, call an expert immediately.
Before the problem gets addressed, avoid lighting matches inside your home. Turn off all the switches of your heating system all over the house. If the gas leak already feels so strong and pronounced, leave your home immediately (with the door open, allowing the gas to disseminate).
3. Dirty Filters
There’s a very good reason why the filters of HVAC systems have to be replaced regularly. When your filters are dirty, this causes your heating system to work harder. This means that there’s extensive damage to the limits of your heating system. Also, higher energy costs as well.
Typically, the filters of your heating system need to replaced once every three months. Else, the dirty filters will affect your household in the following ways:
- Increased wear and tear of your heaters
- Reduced energy efficiency
- Poor indoor air quality
4. Not Giving Out Enough Heat
One of the most common and apparent signs that your heating system has a problem is in the fact that it isn’t giving out enough heat.
As the homeowner, you know how warm your heater can get at a certain level, and how different it may be now when it has a problem. If this is the case, call an HVAC expert repairman.
It can either be that the blower isn’t working correctly or that the system itself is destroyed.
5. Slipped Or Frayed Blower Belt
A slipped or frayed blower belt is an internal problem. But, this can be characterized by a strong, whining noise of your heating system.
In this case, the belt itself has to be replaced by your HVAC repairman. Before this is done, as the homeowner, you must also temporarily turn off the entire heating system. Else, it may lead to further damage if the blower belt itself gets entirely broken while the system is running.
6. Not Giving Out Heat At All
The worst problem, especially during winter, is when you suddenly discover that your heater is no longer giving out heat at all.
In most cases, this is caused by a thermostat malfunction. In other cases, it can also be because a tripped circuit breaker, the pilot light has gone out, or that your heater has blown a fuse. In this kind of problem, it’s necessary to reset the circuit breaker or replace the fuse. For the latter, an HVAC repairman is needed.
7. Heating Cycles On And Off Too Frequently
This problem commonly occurs with a combustion type of heater. Generally, your heater shouldn’t give off too cold or too hot temperatures since the cycle of a heater is quite steady and predictable.
If this is disrupted, it can also be a telltale sign of a thermostat problem. When this happens, the thermostat will need to be replaced. It can be because the unit is overheating or there’s a malfunction on the blower.
Conclusion
Today, heating systems are created to be very reliable. But, this also doesn’t mean that they’re excused from getting broken. It’s still very possible for your heating systems to break, simply because it’s a machine.
If you previously had no idea at all of what the common problems are, reading through this article is the best piece of informative guide that you can get. A knowledge of these problems can ring a bell in your head when they happen, such that you can call for an HVAC repair ASAP before the problem escalates.
