The shifting weather in West Columbia can mean a number of things, from the changing color of leaves to turning on your furnace for the season. Of course, total home comfort is your year-round goal, but sometimes our heating and cooling equipment doesn’t feel like cooperating. That doesn’t mean that you’re automatically destined for furnace repair though.
When your furnace quits working or you notice it operating strangely, there are four things you can check on before calling in the pros at Tri City Fuel & Heating Co., Inc. for furnace repair. Here are a couple troubleshooting tips to try before giving us a call.
1) Check your thermostat
This is one of the simplest checks that homeowners can do themselves, and may solve the concern more than they’d like to admit. Ensure your thermostat is:
- Set to “heat”
- Programmed higher than the room temperature
- Working with a newer battery
2) Look at the furnace filter
Dirty filters can cause furnaces to act erratically, making them shut down without notice and without making a noise. Furnace filters have been the cause for quite a few furnace repair calls in the past, but there’s no reason to pick up the phone when you can exchange it yourself. Not to mention that a dirty furnace filter decreases your system’s efficiency and inhibits airflow.
3) Find and inspect your furnace’s switches
Nearly all of the time, switches to your furnace are found:
- Around the furnace and usually look like your regular light switch.
- At your circuit breaker panel. Identify the breaker that controls your furnace and find out if it is in the middle position or the Off position. If it is, cycle the breaker to Off and then re-set it back to the On position.
4) Open all of your vents
A routine mistake among homeowners is to close vents in vacant rooms, but this could actually lead to a need for furnace repair. Closing these vents can potentially cause your system to be less efficient and stop working because of added airflow pressure.
If you’ve done these four troubleshooting tips and still aren’t having any luck getting your system back in working order, it’s probably time to give us a call. The team at Tri City Fuel & Heating Co., Inc. in West Columbia are here to make sure all of your furnace repair needs are met, so give us a call at 803-265-4208.