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Having Bad Luck With Your Gas Furnace? Troubleshooting TipsThe gas furnace in your West Bloomfield home has provided you and your family with years of dependable service, but lately you seem to have nothing but bad luck with it. Familiarize yourself with these basic gas furnace troubleshooting tips so you know when to call for professional HVAC help and when you may be able to solve the problem yourself.

No Heat!

The worst case during heating season is a cold gas furnace. Look for these issues you may be able to solve:

  • Your thermostat is set too low and is therefore not calling for heat—turn it up.
  • Your thermostat is not working—try fresh batteries or resetting it;  turn it up to force a call for heat.
  • The circuit breaker or fuse for the gas furnace is tripped or has blown—reset or replace.
  • Pilot light is out—relight if you feel comfortable doing so.

These issues require professional servicing:

  • Your remedies do not work
  • Hot surface ignition problem
  • Intermittent pilot electronic ignition problem

Not Enough Heat

Your Madison Heights home’s furnace should deliver plenty of soothing heat, but if you have noticed a decline, look at these gas furnace troubleshooting tips:

  • Replace or clean the air filter to improve air circulation
  • Airflow to combustion chamber is obstructed
  • Clean or adjust the gas burners—though you may wish to get a professional HVAC technician to tackle this

Call for trained service help if you suspect a cracked heat exchanger. This condition, which can reduce heat production, can cause fatal carbon monoxide exposure.

Short-Cycling

Short-cycling refers to a gas furnace that comes on and turns off frequently. The gas furnace never gets up to peak efficiency, and your house never gets quite comfortable. Look to these gas furnace troubleshooting tips to remedy short-cycling:

  • Dirty air filter—clean or replace
  • Faulty blower motor or motor belt—have a service technician inspect, oil the blower motor’s lubrication ports, and check belt for proper tension and integrity
  • Thermostat—the unit’s heat anticipator could be faulty

For more tips on getting the most from your West Bloomfield or Madison Heights home’s gas furnace, contact us at Aladdin Heating and Cooling.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Warren, Michigan about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about gas furnaces and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

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